Abstract
The aim of this study is to provide new empirical insights into the attractiveness of European cities for international conferences and to investigate how cities perform in relation to their potential. In order to explore this attractiveness, a zero-inflated count-data model is estimated. The analysis uses a unique data set where information from the International Congress and Convention Association on international association meetings is linked to a set of specific characteristics for 943 cities in Europe for the period 2012 to 2016. Approximately one out of five cities hosts five meetings or more in a single year. Estimations reveal that cultural offerings, quality of local universities, attractiveness as a location for international research and development and foreign direct investments (FDI) in hotels as well as size are factors of importance for the probability of becoming a host city as well as for the extent of meetings. Infrastructure, such as an airport nearby and sea border in the proximity, is crucial only for becoming a host city. A comparison of actual and potential number of meetings reveals that large cities like Copenhagen, Edinburgh, Lisbon, Porto, Munich and Barcelona all host far more meetings than would have been expected given their destination attributes.
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