Last year more international association meetings were held in Helsinki than in any other previous year. These congresses attracted over 40,000 visitors to Helsinki and generated approximately 75 million euros in tourism income. Helsinki hosted almost half of all congresses held in Finland last year.

A total of 310 international association meetings were organised in Helsinki in 2014, and they were attended by over 40,000 delegates. The majority of these congresses were in the fields of mathematics and the natural sciences, the social sciences and history, economics, management and communications, and medicine.

“Helsinki’s popularity as an international congress city is growing all the time. This was the third straight year that we have posted record numbers of congresses,” says Ines Antti-Poika, Convention Director at the Helsinki Convention & Events Bureau.

Helsinki was also listed as one of the top ten cities in the world for meetings – alongside Barcelona and Shanghai, for example – in the March edition of the US-based trade publication Smart Meetings. In 2013, Helsinki was ranked the 20th most popular congress city in the world in the annual survey by the Union of International Associations (UIA), and it is expected to do even better in 2014. The results will be announced in May 2015.

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Photo: City Tourism Board of Helsinki