Meeting tourism continues to grow in Spain

The Spain Convention Bureau's annual report for 2015 is full of positive figures for our country. The meetings industry continues to be on an upward trend, with a 3.4% growth in the number of participants compared to the previous year, with an economic impact of 5,172 million euros.

In 2015, Spain hosted a total of 20,514 meetings attended by 3,783,138 people, representing growth of 7.5% and 3.4%, respectively, according to SCB data from a report by Madison Market Research. The volume of business generated increasedó 3% over 2014, to ?5,172 million.

More than half of the meetings held, specifically 58%, were conferences. This was followed by conventions (27%) and congresses (15%). The number of participants has increased in conventions (11.8%) and congresses (3.9%), while in conferences it has decreased (-2.5%).

In terms of territorial scope, 48% of the events were national, 30% regional and 22% international. Compared to the previous year, all three types of events have increased, with a greater increase in regional (10.2%) and national (9.5%) events.

As regards the nationality of the meeting delegates, 69.7% were Spanish English and the remaining 30% foreigners. Cataluña and Madrid have the most participants from outside their communities. The most important sectors in the generation of events continue to be the medical-healthcare and the economic-commercial sectors, which together account for 39.3%.

The seasonality of meetings tourism follows the same trend as in previous years. The months with the highest rate of meetings are May, June, October and November.

With regard to the venues for holding events, the conference centers have increased their weight in 2015 and, with 32%, receive the highest number of meetings. They are followed by hotels (26.9%), other meeting centers (18.5%) and universities (15.3%).

More than half of the meetings held hosted between 50 and 150 delegates. The average duration of the meetings was 2.05 days, a decrease of 0.42 days compared to 2014. The majority of meetings (51.4%) lasted up to two days.

The majority of meetings (51.4%) lasted up to two days.