Florentine conference tourism resumes its run and after an improving 2023, compared to the previous year, predicts further growth in MICE events in 2024 as well. This is the picture that emerges from the data on the Metropolitan City of Florence, contained within the report of the Italian Observatory of Congresses and Events-OICE, the research promoted at the national level by the Italian meetings industry association Federcongressi&Eventi and carried out by the Alta Scuola di Economia e Relazioni Internazionali of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore – Aseri. According to the numbers of the in-depth study on the Florentine metropolitan area, promoted by the Destination Florence Foundation, last year 11,697 events were held in the 190 venues analyzed, registering more than 807 thousand participants (+15.2 percent) and more than 1.2 million attendees in the city (+22.4 percent). Also significant was the impact on hotel occupancy, which grew by 29%, for an average attendance of 1.35 days.
Increased domestic and international events held in 2023, accounting for 45.5% and 12.3% of the total, respectively (they were 34.9% and 8.3% in 2022). The exhibition-congress hub of Firenze Fiera is the venue of choice for major exhibitions, congress, and corporate events, both domestic and international, flanked by the congress-oriented hotel sector, which is establishing itself as the most widely used event venue for smaller meetings, so much so that 81% of total events have been concentrated in their meeting spaces. Also noteworthy is the growing activity of the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino as a venue for corporate events, which in 2023 hosted 12 conventions and 4 conferences, with a total of 22 thousand participants. The general health of Florentine convention and corporate tourism is also demonstrated by the fact that 52.6 percent of the venues surveyed say they will host more events in 2024 than in 2023, and for 63.2 percent, turnover is growing.
“Florence and the Metropolitan City are the ideal destination for events of all kinds and sizes. In addition to the constant and effective collaboration with Firenze Fiera for large events, we are pleased to highlight the development of the hotel sector as a venue for hosting smaller events and conferences,” stresses Destination Florence Foundation President Laura Masi. - Promoting sustainable tourism development for the entire metropolitan area is in the Foundation's DNA, and thanks to its special characteristics, congress and corporate tourism fits perfectly into this vision. The data also certify the effectiveness of our work: supporting and promoting tourism of increasing quality.”
THE OVERALL NUMBERS FOR 2023
More than 30 million euros is the economic impact on the city of the congresses acquired in 2023 alone, the result of the fruitful collaboration between the Destination Florence Convention Bureau and Firenze Fiera. There are 14 high-profile international congresses, obtained thanks to bids developed in recent years, that will take place between 2024 and 2028 with more than 18,000 participants expected.
“Thanks to the synergy with Destination Florence Foundation, the City of Florence and all other institutions and entities in charge,” says Firenze Fiera President Lorenzo Becattini, ”the business volume of the congress sector is growing exponentially. “In 2023 we hosted as many as 133 events for a total of 60,000 participants, up from the previous year, and also last year we obtained the ISO 20121 certification that is essential to be able to host sustainable events.” “Finally, with the completion of the work on the new Bellavista Pavilion (scheduled for early 2027),” Becattini concludes, ”our spaces will be equipped with a new hall, ideal for large corporate and congressional events and for hosting all those corporate and medical-scientific events that bring quality tourism to the city and leave a legacy on the territory.
