Skift Take
Traditional conference cities are still the default choice for events organizers, but rising costs and strained capacity are making secondary cities more appealing. And some are working hard to show their unique benefits.
A handful of big cities – Orlando, Las Vegas, Toronto, London, Barcelona, Berlin, Singapore, and Rio de Janeiro – continue to dominate the global meetings market. But as costs rise and availability falls, meetings organizers are increasingly moving their events to alternative cities.
Ian Cummings, vice president of EMEA at CWT Meetings & Events, notices this emergence of secondary cities.
“In Spain, for example, Seville is very popular at the moment. Gothenburg in Sweden, and Lyon and Nice in France are also very exciting locations. Interestingly, in the CWT Meetings & Events’ 2019 Future Trends Report, four German cities – Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, and Frankfurt – made the list of the top 10 cities for meetings and events in Europe,” he said.
Cummings also noted growing interest in secondary cities in the UK, with Manchester, Liverpool, and Birmingham all making the most of their strong hotel and activity infrastructure for meetings and events, while a few Scottish destinations are also gaining momentum.
According to Tracey Edwards, general manager of event travel management at Corporate Travel Management, secondary cities are working hard to attract events busines
