For Cologne, 2024 was a year of contrasting fortunes. After the post-covid increase, many event venues saw a decline in the number of events this year: the entries resulted in an overall minus of 8.1% compared to the previous year. The decreases were most pronounced for conference hotels and event locations, while the event centres still had a balancing effect with an increase. There was an increase of +44.1% in the number of participants, which was evident in all types of operations.
Further indications of which specific events have declined can be seen in the evaluation of the Conference Barometer entries. These show that in 2024, both business and private events have declined, indicating a downward movement of the entire market (in terms of events).
The proportion of foreign participants in Cologne is increasing. At 4.2% in 24, it has been rising continuously since the Corona crisis, but is still below the pre-Corona figure of 6.5% (2019).
In terms of the organisers' origin, Cologne and the surrounding region are regaining their dominance, together with the southern region – but organisers from abroad are also continuing to increase (from 5.9% to 7.3%).
The most important foreign source markets remained the same except for 8th place: as in previous years, the UK, USA and NL are in the lead.
Please note: Information on hybrid and virtual events cannot be provided in these ‘first figures’ because the figures from the Meeting & Event Barometer are needed for the calculation, and these are only available from May onwards.