6013 business meetings in Krakow – “2017 Krakow Meetings Industry” is published!

In 2017, over 6 thousand meetings and events were organised, which means an increase by 14% compared with the preceding year. The greatest indicator is the share of congresses and conferences at the level of 73% of all meetings in the city.

Over 632 thousand persons attended meetings and events held in Krakow in 2017. Over 355 thousand persons attended congresses and conferences, which comprised almost 57% of all attendees. It proves that the increase of the number of attendees of congresses and conferences totalling 16 percentage points compared with the preceding year and confirms the legitimacy of the catchphrase: “Krakow – a city of congresses”. It needs to be emphasized that the highest number of attendees of congresses and conferences were attracted by events related to medicine (over 20%). The average duration of events is 1.69 days, but international meetings lasted longer, over 2 days on average.

In terms of seasonality, the highest number of events took place in the spring (as follows: June – 729, May – 688) and in October (683). In the latter month, the highest number of attendees arrived in the city (over 139 thousand). It needs to be emphasized that in October, the city hosted 31% attendees of all international events. The major organizers of events in Krakow in 2017 were enterprises (close to 3/4). The industrial distribution indicates a key role of the commercial and services industry, for which over one-third of all events and meetings were held in 2017. As regards gestors, over 80% of events were held in Krakow's hotels. In this context, it is important to note that the offer of facilities with conference venues was also expanded (the increase in the number of facilities by 1.2%, the number of venues by 1%). These were mostly high-standard hotels, opened in the city's centre. It must be emphasized that almost all indicators concerning the meetings and events industry in Krakow have improved.

As we sum up the year 2017, we need to underline the fact that the city went up in the ICCA ranking by 11 positions. The 54th place in the world, achieved thanks to holding 45 meetings of associations of periodic nature in Krakow, meeting all ICCA requirements, proves that the city is recognized as an attractive destination for the meetings industry.

The full text of the “2017 Krakow Meetings Industry” report can be downloaded here.