The International Conference & Congress Association (ICCA) and the Union of International Associations (UIA) annually gather statistics on the Dutch and the international business travel market. Next to that the NBTC also annually collects its own statistics of the Dutch congress market.

NBTC Statistics

The NBTC annually collects data in relation to the international congresses and meetings held in the Netherlands in close cooperation with the regional congress bureaus, congress organizers and -venues in the Netherlands.
To be incorporated in this statistics an international congress or meeting must meet the following criteria:
• the congress or meeting must last at least two days, with at least one overnight stay;
• the number of participants must be at least 40;
• at least one third of all participants must reside outside the Netherlands;
• the meeting must take place at external accommodation*, including universities and Academic Medical Centers;
• the purpose of the external congress or meeting must be to transfer knowledge.

* Examples are a hotel or congress centre or some other rentable venues used specifically for congresses / meetings.

The Netherlands as a conference destination

There were held 1,333 international congresses and meetings in the Netherlands in 2008.
The average duration of international congresses and meetings in the Netherlands in 2008 was 3.4 days, with an average number of 220 participants per congress or meeting.

UIA international conference countries ranking 2008

In 2008, 393 international non-corporate conferences took place in the Netherlands. Compared to other countries this number accounts for a 6th place on the UIA international conference countries ranking 2008. This is the same position the Netherlands held on the ranking in 2007. However, the Dutch market share compared to its surrounding countries slightly increased in 2008, from 21.9 to 22.4 percent.

UIA handles the following criteria for an international non-corporate conference:

UIA criteria for an international convention*:

• Minimum of 250 participants or an exhibition taking place during the conference;
• Minimum number of foreigners: 40 percent;
• Minimum of 5 different nationalities;
• Minimum duration: 2 days.

* Or conferences of associations which are publicized in the UIA Yearbook of International Associations and have at least 50 participants

Top 15 International conference countries - UIA
(non-corporate)

ICCA international congress destination rankings 2008

Annually, the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) publishes a ranking of countries that host international conventions. In 2008, Holland went up from eleventh to tenth place on the international congress destination rankings. ICCA identified 227 congresses for Holland in 2008, compared with 195 in 2007 (+ 16 percent).

The top fifteen countries on the ICCA rankings are the same as last year. The United States and Germany have held first and second place since 2004, without fail.

ICCA only incorporates congresses of associations in its statistics and uses the following criteria for an international congress:

ICCA criteria for an international congress

• Minimum of 50 participants;
• Organised on a regular base;
• Minimum number of nationalities: 3

 Top 15 International conference countries – ICCA 
(association conventions)