According to a recent congress study by Finland Convention Bureau, which is part of the Finnish Tourist Board, the international congresses organised in Finland in 2010 gathered altogether 61,371 participants.
On average, a congress visitor stayed in Finland for 4.9 days, and spent EUR 207 per day while in the country.
In all, the tourism resulting from international congresses reached EUR 72 million. The sum consists of the combined consumption of congress organisers and participants. Thus, the income impact of one congress visitor to Finland was EUR 1,175. Indirectly, the total impact of congresses on the employment in our country was 1,202 man years.
Finns are commended for safety and friendliness
According to the study, most of the participants (90%) regarded the local congress arrangements as good or very good. The safety in Finland and the friendliness of Finns was commended in particular. A clear majority (62%) visited our country for the first time.
Domains with the most congresses organised last year include technology and IT, medicine, and economic. About half of all congresses were in these areas. Medical congresses drew the largest amount of participants by far.
Marketing Finland as a venue for congresses and corporate events, FCB has organised a congress survey every third year since 1986 to clarify the economic influence of congress travel and obtain information about the experiences of the participants. 6510 congress visitors from 16 international congresses took part in the study executed last year. The study was implemented by Taloustutkimus Oy.
The full report will be available on the FCB website at www.fcb.fi in week 15.
