Cvent, Inc. revealed its annual list of the top 50 cities for meetings and events in the United States according to meeting and event booking activity through the Cvent Supplier Network.
Orlando reclaimed the top spot on the 2015 list, a position the city last held in 2013. Las Vegas climbed one spot on the ranking compared to last year, while Chicago dropped two places from No. 1 in 2014.
The top 10 cities for 2015 are:
1. Orlando
2. Las Vegas
3. Chicago
4. San Diego
5. Atlanta
6. Washington, D.C.
7. New York City
8. Dallas
9. Nashville, Tenn.
10. Phoenix
“Competition for meetings and conventions business continues to be very heated between destinations that are eager to attract events to boost their local economies,” said Bharet Malhotra, senior vice president of sales for the Cvent Supplier Network. “This year we witnessed several cities vying for a position in the top 50 list, with significant movement within the ranks. One of the interesting trends this year has been the rise of smaller cities moving ahead of and even displacing destinations that are near large metro areas but not downtown.”
Smaller cities have been actively investing in and expanding their infrastructure and attractions, and benefiting from property renovations in their markets. Many of these locations are winning significant new business by serving as interesting regional alternatives to major destinations.
Additionally, many smaller cities are on planners’ rotations designed to vary destinations from one year to the next, and many of these events have been growing, bringing more attendees and budget. Several smaller cities have emerged on the 2015 list such as Pittsburgh, Pa.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Tucson, Ariz. and Charleston, S.C. Within the list, cities including Austin, Texas; Charlotte, N.C. and Tampa, Fla. climbed to higher positions.
Cvent evaluated more than 5,000 U.S. cities featured on the Cvent Supplier Network to compile the fourth annual list. Activity was tracked from July 2014 to June 2015 and the ranking was then determined by a set of qualifying criteria consisting of:
- Unique Request For Proposals Received.
- Total Room Nights.
- Awarded Request For Proposals.
- Awarded Room Nights.
- Percentage of Qualified Meeting Venues.
- Number of Profile Views.
Featuring more than 235,000 hotels, resorts and special event venues, the Cvent Supplier Network is one of the world's largest and most accurate databases of detailed venue information. It contains listings of hotels and other venues in more than 175 countries that can be searched and filtered based on approximately 200 characteristics and data fields. The Cvent Supplier Network is part of the Cvent Hospitality Cloud.
