MICE news Cologne

TagungsBarometer Cologne 2021

© KölnTourismus GmbH, Foto: EITW

The coronavirus pandemic also had the event industry firmly in its grip in 2021. From January to the end of May, events were completely banned, while the rest of the year was characterized by uncertainty among the general public and event organizers. This uncertainty among event organizers and participants was reflected in the figures for the Cologne event market.

The 19,400 events held in Cologne in 2021 represent a 5 per cent decrease compared to the previous year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of participants decreased by 11.1 per cent to a total of 1.47 million. The number of event venues increased by four to 200.

Compared to the previous year, there was a change in the most important source markets for the MICE segment in Cologne. The UK continues to be in first place, the Netherlands rose to second place (2020: Belgium) and France continues to be in third place. 

The sectors of the organizers remain unchanged from the prior year: banking and insurance are still the most important sectors, followed by medical and pharmaceutical companies. The leisure industry is in third place this time.  

These figures are based on the results of the current TagungsBarometer (Conference Barometer), a survey of convention centres, conference hotels and event locations that is conducted regularly by the Cologne Convention Bureau (CCB) in cooperation with the Europäisches Institut für TagungsWirtschaft (EITW).