Invest in Finland

Helsinki now a more popular congress location than London and New York

03/09/2007

According to statistics released by the Union of International Associations (UIA) in the middle of August, Helsinki was the world’s sixth most popular city as a congress location in 2006, behind Paris (1), Vienna (2), Singapore (3), Brussels (4) and Geneva (5). London was placed 8th and New York was placed 10th. In the UIA’s country rankings, Finland was the eighth most popular location after the USA (1), France (2), Germany (3), The Netherlands (4), Austria (5), Spain (6) and the UK (7). Both the country and city rankings are the highest ever achieved by Finland, the only Nordic country to be ranked in the top ten in either category.

Founded in 1907 and headquartered in Brussels, the Union of International Associations is a non-profit, non-governmental organization operating under UN mandate. The UIA has consultative status with both ECOSOC and UNESCO. A total of 8,871 meetings involving international associations as classified by the UIA were held world-wide in 2006.

Finland’s EU presidency was a significant factor

Commenting on the rankings, Tuula Lindberg, Managing Director of the Finland Convention Bureau (FCB), said “We are extremely satisfied with the results. Already for the past twenty years Finland has been among the top 20 countries in the world, and our goal was to be among the top ten by 2010, so we are happy to have reached this target so soon.”

According to the FCB, one third of all meetings held in Finland in 2006 were related to the country’s EU presidency, and special praise was received from the UIA in this connection. The UIA report also characterises Finland as one of the decade’s “tigers” for having increased the number of meetings held by more than 50 per cent.

Pentti Pitkänen, Investment Director, Trade and Services, Invest in Finland, said “Finland offers modern conference  facilities with good security and we have a huge amount of experience in organising a wide range of major events all the way from sports and athletic competitions to summit conferences. Delegates attending congresses and conferences in Finland also have the chance to explore numerous exotic, historical and unspoiled locations as part of their visit.”

Further information:

http://www.fcb.fi/eng/news/pressreleases/august15_2007_ENG.html

(UIA rankings) http://www.fcb.fi/pdf/UIAstatistics2006engLIITE.pdf