In comparison with the previous year, Frankfurt’s event industry recorded a sharp increase in the overall number of events and event participants in 2023. In fact, the figures came in only slightly below those of the record-setting year of 2019. According to the official Meeting- & EventBarometer (MeBa), Frankfurt hosted a total of 77,041 events and some 5.46 million on-site participants in 2023.
“Approximately 79% of the events held in Frankfurt were business-related”, says City Councillor Stephanie Wüst, Head of Department for Economic Affairs, Law and City Marketing of the City of Frankfurt. “Conferences, congresses and seminars made up the largest share of events, the percentage being significantly higher than the German average. This result underlines the importance of Frankfurt as an international conference destination and a key business location.“
Small-scale events with up to 100 participants made up the largest number of business events (70.2%), while events with more than 1,000 participants totalled 3%.
“We were fortunate to welcome a number of leading congresses and conferences to Frankfurt in 2023, all of them bringing with them a sizeable number of participants,” states Jutta Heinrich, head of the Frankfurt Convention Bureau, the business events department of the Frankfurt Tourist+Congress Board (TCF). She adds: “These events included, amongst others, the EHA 2023 Hybrid Congress of the European Hematology Association, which attracted approximately 11,000 on-site participants, and EUROSPINE2023 with some 3,400 on-site participants.”
Taking into account all events (business and other), Frankfurt’s share of international event visitors was significantly higher than the German average. In total, the foreign participant figure made up a share of 14.6% – more than double that of the German average (6.2%). When considering only business events, the percentage of foreign visitors was even higher, coming in at 20.2%.
“The industries with the largest number of events held in Frankfurt in 2023 include finance, chemicals and pharmaceuticals as well as IT and telecommunications. This range concurs with the key industries at home in Frankfurt Rhine-Main and speaks volumes for the positive business image of Frankfurt,” explains City Councillor Wüst.
Thomas Feda, managing director of the TCF, added: “Frankfurt’s excellent accessibility by various modes of transport, the number of companies of relevant industries based in Frankfurt Rhine-Main, the broad range of accommodation offers and the wide variety of event venues situated within the city districts are all decisive factors for our location. It is therefore no surprise that Frankfurt ranks amongst the top-three German cities to host special events.”
Trending topics like sustainability and artificial intelligence also play a major role in the special events industry. Survey respondents believe there will be an increasing need for action in these sectors, both now and in the future.
Hotel booking figures, meanwhile, give conference hotels and event venues plenty of reason to smile. Some 76% of surveyed suppliers expect a positive development in booking figures for 2024.
Event organisers are even more optimistic, with 89% of them expecting the events industry to have done very well in the current year.
“We too are looking positively towards the future,” says City Councillor Wüst in conclusion. “We have already welcomed a great number of events and event participants to Frankfurt in 2024. We also expect to welcome a number of large-scale congresses with several thousand participants to be taking place in our city in the coming year. These will include, amongst others, the SIBOS 2025 financial congress, which is expecting to attract more than 10,000 participants, and the European Congress in Obstetrics and Gynaecology (EBCOG) with approximately 2,000 participants.
The complete Meeting & Event Barometer is available for download at www.meetfrankfurt.de/statistics
About the Meeting & Event Barometer
The Meeting & Event Barometer is the only survey to comprehensively examine Germany’s meetings industry – including the congress and the event sectors – and to provide a clear and informative picture of this industry. Initiators of the survey include the European Association of Event Centres (EVVC), the German Convention Bureau (GCB) and the German National Tourism Board (DZT). The survey is carried out by the European Institute of the Meetings Industry (EITW). Data collection specifically for Frankfurt began in 2019, the results being compared to the figures taken from the Germany-wide survey.
