MICE industry grows in the German capital

The Berlin Convention Office of visitBerlin announced the results of the latest convention statistics 2015; revealing the growth of event industry in the German capital.

Last year, 11.4 million participants came to conferences, congresses and incentives in the German capital. This represents a growth of four per cent. The number of events grew by three per cent to about 135,000 in the same time period.

“Berlin is one of the world’s top destinations for meetings and conventions”, says Burkhard Kieker, CEO of visitBerlin.

Every fifth visitor is an international guest

2.3 million participants came from abroad, meaning one in five participants at events in the city came from outside Germany. The most important foreign region was Europe.

Berlin is especially in demand as a location for events related to sciences and medicine: each 12 percent of the meetings and conventions can be assigned to the industries “Medicine, Science and Research” and “IT, Electronic and Communications”, followed by “Politics and Public Institutions” with 11 per cent.

Industry provides around 40,000 jobs

With 2.31 billion euro in sales and a growth of five per cent, conferences and conventions are an important economic factor for Berlin. The event industry is responsible for around 39,500 full-time jobs (+4 per cent) in the capital city. Convention participants who stay overnight in Berlin spent an average of 234 euro per day. In 2014, the figure was 232 euro.

The hotel industry in particular benefited from the strong conference and convention business: In 2015, the event market generated 7.5 million overnight stays (+7 per cent), representing approximately a quarter of all hotel stays in Berlin.