Cvent, Inc., a market leader in meetings, events, and hospitality technology, today released its annual lists of the top cities for meetings and events worldwide. Three new regions are highlighted this year: The Caribbean and Latin America (CALA), Canada and Europe. The lists were compiled based on sourcing activity through the Cvent Supplier Network. In 2017, more than 40 million room nights worldwide and $14.7 billion of business were sourced through the Cvent Supplier Network – helping to support more than 715,000 events around the globe.

“When we first launched Top Destinations in 2012, the only cities highlighted were located in the United States. Now, six years later, Top Destinations includes six lists covering every region in the world,” said Chris McAndrews, Vice President of Marketing for the Cvent Hospitality Cloud. “Additionally, secondary cities like Guangzhou, China and Hyderabad, India on the APAC list, and Aurora, Colorado and Burlingame, California on the U.S. list, are making their first appearance and are helping to drive their local economies by attracting group business to their locales. The Cvent Supplier Network is the world’s largest platform for sourcing meetings and events, and our data demonstrates that more events are being held all over the globe.  This highlights the overall strength and positive impact the meetings and events industry has worldwide.”

“We’re thrilled to have been named the Top Meeting Destination in Canada by Cvent, a recognition of our passionate community that is an industry leader in the meetings and events industry,” said Johanne Bélanger, President and CEO of Tourism Toronto. “Known as ‘Canada’s Downtown,’ Toronto is a city renowned for big-ticket events, top attractions, unique restaurants and a vibrant nightlife. We’re excited to share the energy found in our destination with each of the 400,000 delegates we welcome to Toronto every year.” 

The top 10 cities in each region for 2018 are:

“The cities featured in this year’s Top Destinations lists have invested significant time, energy, and resources into building premier locations that entice organizations, large and small, to plan meetings and events in their areas,” said McAndrews. “With meetings representing more than 13% of total travel and tourism spending and generating $845 billion in sales in the U.S. alone, they have become a major economic driver for these markets. Because of this positive impact, destinations are pulling out all the stops to attract group business, and we expect to see this healthy competition continue.”

“We are honored to be recognized once again as the number one meeting destination in the U.S. by Cvent,” said George Aguel, President and CEO of Visit Orlando. “With new enhancements coming to our convention center and airport, as well as the addition of new venue space, attractions and exciting dining options, Orlando’s continued investment in the meetings and convention industry, ensures our position as a top meetings destination.”

Methodology

Destinations around the world compete on a variety of factors including the accessibility of the destination and facilities for events, price and price flexibility, quality of facilities, quality of services, personal safety for attendees, and having a point of differentiation.

Cvent evaluated more than 11,000 cities worldwide featured on the Cvent Supplier Network to compile the seventh annual list. Activity was tracked from January 2017 through December 2017 and the ranking was then determined by a set of qualifying criteria consisting of:

• Unique Request For Proposals Received
• Total Room Nights
• Awarded Request For Proposals
• Awarded Room Nights
• Percentage of Qualified Meeting Venues
• Number of Profile Views