Beijing hosted 94 international conferences in 2018, an increase of 13.8% year-on-year and ranking first in China and seventh among cities in the Asian-Pacific region. The rankings were published Wednesday at IBTM China, a trade exhibition on meetings, conventions, events, and incentive travel.
In recent years, Beijing has been picked as the location for more and more large-scale and high-level international meetings. Those meetings largely cover three categories: health and social work, science research and technology services, and information transmission and software. In 2018, Beijing hosted 17, 11, and six of those meetings, respectively.
Also last year, Beijing hosted 30 three-day international meetings, 25 four-day international meetings, and 17 five-day international meetings, accounting for 76.6% of all international meetings that took place in the Chinese capital.
Moreover, nearly 36% of meetings hosted in Beijing in 2018 took place in conference and exhibition centers, and 22% in hotels.
Beijing currently has 61 five-star hotels, 114 four-star hotels, and 98,000 rooms offered by star-rated hotels. Beijing Yanqi Lake is considered one of the best venues to host high-level international meetings.
Cao Pengcheng, deputy director of Beijing Municipal Cultural and Tourism Bureau, said the city has been improving meeting facilities, promoting the construction of additional halls at the China International Exhibition Center, and coordinating the construction of Beijing Daxing International Airport Exhibition Center. The moves are aimed at promoting the development of the city's meetings and events industry, also known as MICE.
Cao said the next 10 years will be a golden period for the transformation of the MICE industry, adding that Beijing will further open up the industry, and support the healthy and sustainable development of the industry.
IBTM China is in its 14th year, and it has become one of the largest, highest-level, and most influential international trade exhibitions in Asia.
