The majority of meetings were clustered together in the early summer, and in September, October and November. In fact, 79% of all events took place in the second half of the year. Both event totals and participant numbers were up 16% on 2020. In all, 1,788 congresses, corporate events and incentives with a total of approximately 140,000 participants were recorded. This translated into about 284,000 overnight stays for Vienna’s accommodation providers (up 7% on 2020), with the majority of the increase attributable to international congresses. The indicators related exclusively to in-person events, as well as hybrid events with in-person participants who generated overnight stays. Additional online-only events and participants are not included in the Vienna meeting industry statistics, as off-site attendance does not generate induced economic or tax impacts for the destination. This reporting method showed that in-person and hybrid events in 2021 reached 33% of the total number of events, 23% of the participants and 18% of the overnight stays recorded in 2019.

Vienna reported around 5 million overnight stays from all tourism segments in 2021. The meeting industry accounted for 6% of all overnights in Vienna, and congresses continued to dominate, with a 5% share. The contribution made by corporate events was 1%. At EUR 157.13 million, the contribution to GDP attributable to Vienna’s meeting industry was up 3% on the previous year, but still significantly lower than the EUR 954.43 million reported in 2019. Once again in 2021, the lion’s share of this amount – EUR 117.13 million – was generated by international congresses.

In 2021, Vienna’s meeting industry generated tax income of EUR 43.43 million for Austria, with Vienna benefiting from around EUR 5.31 million of this amount. It also secured 2,759 year-round jobs nationwide during the reporting period. Induced economic impact, tax revenue and jobs secured are calculated according to the Event Model Austria, a constantly updated method developed by corporate advisor and Vienna University of Business and Economics lecturer Martina Stoff-Hochreiner.

Although the share of the total number of events accounted for by international congresses was relatively low at 13% (225 events), this segment was still behind around three quarters of the economic impact induced during the year, as well as tax income. And it was also the largest single segment in terms of participant numbers, with 32% of the total (44,500). Domestic congresses (347) accounted for 19% of all congresses and 28% of participants (39,900). International corporate events (412) contributed 23% of all meetings and 14% of participants (18,900), while the domestic corporate event segment was the largest with 804 events, or 45% of the total, and 26% of participants (36,900).

Accounting for 35% of all overnights attributable to congresses, United Nations events were by far the largest single contributor, followed by congresses focusing on human medicine and business/politics, each of which accounted for 16% of the total. Previously – in 2019 – human medicine congresses led the way with a 40% share, followed by scientific and formal science congresses (15%) and business/politics (12%). In 2019, UN congresses were responsible for a share of 6%. Once again, these numbers confirm the importance of extraterritorial organization for Vienna’s congress statistics – especially in years of crisis.

To help Meeting Destination Vienna get back on its feet, the City of Vienna initiated the Vienna Meeting Fund 2021-2023 in May 2021. The Austrian capital set a milestone in May 2021 with the Vienna Meeting Fund 2021-2023, for which the Vienna Convention Bureau at the Vienna Tourist Board acts as the funding body. Set up by the City of Vienna, the EUR 4 million fund supports international and domestic organizers who are hosting events in Vienna between now and the end of 2023. In addition to providing support for congresses, the fund is open to events hosted by international (extraterritorial) organizations and corporate events. In 2021 and 2022, support is earmarked for daytime events, with the scheme stipulating an overnight stay element from 2023.

The fund is advertised internationally by the “Vienna: A Pleasure Doing Business” campaign (see below). By December 31, 2021, eight months after the fund was launched, support had been approved in principle for 263 events, with disbursement already completed in 89 cases. Funding approved for these 263 events amounted to more than EUR 2.7 million, meaning that just over two thirds (68%) of the fund has already been allocated. By 2023, around 168,000 participants will attend events in Vienna supported by the fund. As at September 30, 2021, the economic impact of meetings supported by the fund (using the Event Model Austria developed by Dr. Martina Stoff-Hochreiner) was forecast to reach EUR 371 million by 2023.

The statistics published by the two leading meeting industry organizations – the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) and the Union of International Associations (UIA) – regularly show Vienna in a top position among cities around the world, thereby identifying Vienna as a top meeting destination. For the first time since the outbreak of Covid-19, the ICCA published its congress statistics, according to which the congress metropolis of Vienna landed in 1st place worldwide in the overall 2021 ranking, ahead of Lisbon and Athens – with 92 congresses held, of which nine were without restrictions, 22 hybrid and 61 virtual (113 congresses were planned). No data from the UIA's 2021 ranking was available by editorial deadline. In 2020, the UIA's counting criteria put Vienna in 5th place with 107 international congresses, after Singapore (738), Brussels (290), Seoul (148) and Tokyo (122), and maintained its position from the pre-Corona year of 2019.