San Diego ranks fifth among North America’s top destinations for meetings and events, according to the latest annual Global Meetings Forecast report by a division of financial services provider American Express.
Chicago placed first in the ranking, based on national and global surveys of meeting planners, followed by Orlando, Fla., Las Vegas and Atlanta, according to a statement from American Express Meetings and Events.
London was the top meeting destination in Europe, Singapore placed first in the Asia Pacific region, and Rio de Janeiro topped the rankings for Central and South America.
The forecast report predicts a 0.3 percent increase in meetings for North America in 2015 compared with 2014, with spending on meetings to rise by the same margin. Meeting counts are projected to rise 0.4 percent in Europe, 0.1 percent in Central and South America, and 2.1 percent in the Asia Pacific region.
Surveys of meeting professionals were conducted via technology provider Cvent’s proprietary web survey software, officials said, and American Express conducted its own follow-up interviews with meeting and hotel industry leaders.
New York-based American Express Meetings and Events is a division of American Express Global Business Travel.
The Business Journal is the premier business publication in San Diego. Every day online and each Monday in print, the Business Journal reports on how local business operate and why businesses leaders make the decisions they do. Every story is a dose of insight into how to run a better, more efficient, more profitable business.
