Izmir jumped more than 100 steps in the international convention cities ranking.
“Turkey’s inspiring coastal metropolis of Izmir jumped more than 100 steps in the international convention cities ranking.”
The Chairman of
both Izmir Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the Izmir Convention and Visitors Bureau (Izmir CVB), Mr. Ekrem Demirtas, said that according to International Congress and Convention Association’s (ICCA) 2013 statistics, Izmir caused the number of international meetings get through to 22 from 11, came to 106-th from 207-th in the world ranking according to the previous year. Demirtas said “Even the number of international association meetings has been increased by 11, that makes this much bounce. If the great M.I.C.E. potential of Izmir is thoroughly assessed and the convention tourism in the city is much more supported, Izmir would rank higher.”
Demirtas said that according to ICCA’s statistics published for year 2013, Turkey was on the 18th rank in the world and 10th in Europe in the year of 2013 with 221 international association meetings. Demirtas indicated that in Turkey, 146 of ICCA-approved international association meetings were held in Istanbul and he said “In Turkey, Istanbul’s association meetings market is taking the lion’s share. Istanbul ranked 8th in the world and ranked 7th in Europe.” Demirtas explained that the top 5 cities in which international meetings took place, were respectively Paris, Madrid, Vienna, Barcelona and Berlin.
Demirtas signified that according to statistics, Izmir had hosted the 11 approved international meetings in 2012, doubled this number in 2013 and increased this to 22 and he further explained “Even this increase whisked us 101 steps in the world ranking.”
996 DOLLAR PER DAY
Demirtas signified that as a result of the calculations based on ICCA data, a foreign delegate who attended an international association meeting in Izmir spent about 996$ including registration fees. Demirtas also said “Those figures revealed that how Izmir is compatible with convention tourism and with the sense of tourism aimed to bring much more rich tourists to Izmir.” Demirtas represented that despite they face with various obstacles; they continue to work towards improving the meetings market in the city. He also said: “We are working hard for promoting, marketing and bringing international meetings to Izmir. With the completion of our new exhibition center, our metropolitan municipality mayor, Mr. Aziz Kocaoglu has indicated that the old fair area would soon become a convention center. Having the magnific, high-capacity and new convention center in Izmir would cause us to create escalation. On the other hand, in the recent years, there is a significant increase in the number of new hotel establishments in the city center. So, our infrastructure is gradually being made. Within a short period of time, I am sure that we will climb to a much higher rank in terms of hosting international meetings, incentives, conferences and events.”
