Vancouver Again Ranks As Top North American City

Vancouver, BC (May 13, 2008) – The International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) has once again ranked Vancouver as North America’s top destination for international meetings.

In their annual International Association Meeting Market statistics report, Amsterdam-based ICCA ranks cities based on the number of international meetings hosted in the previous year. Vancouver hosted 49 meetings in 2007, placing it 26th internationally, one place ahead of Montreal and well ahead of Toronto (tied for 40th place), New York City (46th), San Diego (tied for 53rd place) and Boston (tied for 62nd place). In 2006, Vancouver was ranked slightly higher in 24th position.

“A ranking such as this demonstrates that Vancouver has a strong reputation among international meeting planners,” said Stan Hagen, British Columbia’s Minister of Tourism, Sport and the Arts. “With the expansion of the Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre, we will be able to attract more of these important international conferences, bringing significant economic benefit to Vancouver and the entire province as we strive to reach our goal of doubling tourism revenues by 2015.”

Richard Yore, Tourism Vancouver’s director of Sales, Meetings & Conventions, agreed that the ranking is good for all facets of the industry. “The number one ranking is a result of the tourism industry’s collective efforts to sell Vancouver as an international meetings destination. The additional resources that Tourism Vancouver has committed to building key European markets, in partnership with the strong relationship that we have with the Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre, professional conference organizers and the hotel community, have proved very important and really paid off.”

“When we talk with the groups that are coming or thinking of coming to Vancouver, there’s no doubt that this city, as a meeting and convention venue, is and will be top of their list,” said Warren Buckley, president and CEO, PavCo. “We will certainly look forward to welcoming more and more of these larger events with VCEC’s expansion opening next spring 2009.”

Tourism Vancouver has been actively soliciting international association business in recent years through its own Be a Host program. The organization researches, identifies and supports local community members in bringing their association’s international conference to Vancouver.

In 2007, the meetings and conventions industry contributed $585 million in direct visitor spending to the Vancouver economy.

Tourism Vancouver’s focus is on building exceptional customer relationships with meeting planners, travel influencers, travel media and independent tourists. The organization’s brand essence is about “exceeding expectations”.

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