Conference tourism generates more than 2.5 billion euros every year in Greece. The sector’s revenue can double in the coming years, while it contributes significantly to the extension of the tourist season. Moreover, the conference visitor spends from 4 to 7 times more than the leisure visitor.
In this context, the UK & Ireland GNTO Office participated in “The Meetings Show” (TMS) 2024, which took place in London on June 19-20. This particular exhibition is the leading professional organization of the sector in the United Kingdom, offering the possibility of meetings with selected professionals of the conference industry (meetings – incentives – events & corporate) from all over the world.
In the Greek pavilion co-exhibitors were the Athens Convention & Visitors Bureau (ACVB) and the Thessaloniki Convention Bureau (TCB). During the exhibition, a total of 57 meetings were held, mainly with high-ranking executives (senior buyers, CEOs, executives) of the British MICE market, who expressed a strong interest in both incentive trips to our country outside of the high tourist season (shoulder period), as well as for conferences of international organizations with the participation of 200-330 people.
Athens is now included in the top cities for conference tourism. More specifically, it was ranked 11th in Europe and 15th worldwide as a destination for conferences, meetings and events in the annual ranking of conference cities and countries (ICCA Annual Report) for 2023.
At the same time, Thessaloniki occupies the 26th place at the European level, rising 25 places compared to the previous year, while the total number of conferences held in the city exceeded 400, with 75,000 participants, in 2023.
TMS 2024 in numbers
The Meetings Show 2024 was attended by almost the entire British MICE market and 558 exhibitors, including major hotel groups (Hilton, Marriott, Sheraton, etc.), national conference offices from various cities such as Barcelona, Istanbul and Helsinki, as well as the National Organizations of Spain, France, Singapore, Malta, etc.
The number of qualified buyers reached 1,524 (+18% compared to 2023), while the total traffic of the exhibition (non-hosted buyers, travel management groups, etc.) exceeded 6,000 people, marking a 9% increase from last year.
