The International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) was founded in 1963 by a group of

travel agent A travel agency is a private retailer or public service that provides travel and tourism-related services to the general public on behalf of accommodation or travel suppliers to offer different kinds of travelling packages for each destinati ...

s to exchange information on international congresses and conventions. Headquartered in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, the ICCA is a nonprofit

trade organization A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry. An industry trade association partic ...

whose primary purpose is to be the global community for the

meetings A meeting is when two or more people come together to discuss one or more topics, often in a formal or business setting, but meetings also occur in a variety of other environments. Meetings can be used as form of group decision making. Defin ...

industry, enabling its members to generate and maintain significant competitive advantage. It has over 1,000 members in over 90 different countries. The members are divided by the type of the company into different sectors which include: destination marketing, meetings management, meetings support, transport, venues and honorary members. The member companies and organisations situated in the same geographical area are divided into chapters. The divided chapters include: African, Asia Pacific, Central European, France-BeneLux, Iberian, Latin American, Mediterranean, Middle East, North American, Scandinavian and UK/Ireland Chapter. The purpose of dividing the members into sectors and chapters is to enable networking between those members which have certain aspects in common in order to enhance their business activities in the industry. The ICCA is a member of the following global organisations:

Convention Industry Council The Events Industry Council (formerly known as the Convention Industry Council (CIC)) is a non-profit federation of more than 30 U.S. and international organizations involved in the meetings, conventions and exhibitions industry. The Events Indust ...

(CIC), Joint Meetings Industry Council (JMIC),

World Tourism Organization The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is the United Nations specialized agency entrusted with the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism. Its headquarters are in Madrid, Spain. UNWTO is the leading inter ...

(UNWTO) and the

Union of International Associations The Union of International Associations (UIA) is a non-profit non-governmental research institute and documentation center based in Brussels, Belgium, and operating under United Nations mandate. It was founded in 1907 under the name Central Offi ...

(UIA). The association now has an international network of suppliers which is in service for the international meetings industry.

References

External links

The Official website of ICCA
*

ICCA Congress & Exhibition The International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) was founded in 1963 by a group of travel agents to exchange information on international congresses and conventions. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, the ICCA is a nonprof ...

Sources

* https://web.archive.org/web/20110407024823/http://unwto.org/ * https://web.archive.org/web/20150403231915/http://www.cibtm.com/en/Exhibitors/51261/ICCA-International-Congress-Convention-Association {{coord missing, Netherlands Professional associations based in the Netherlands Convention centres in the Netherlands International professional associations