2020 Incentive and Meeting Destination Hot Lists

Greece looks set to be a top global incentive destination in 2020 along with the Bahamas and Costa Rica, while US cities will dominate for meetings and conferences, according to data released by Global DMC Partners (GDP).

Also making it onto GDP’s Incentive Destination Hot List for 2020 are Budapest, Aruba, Iceland, New York, Italy, Switzerland and Puerto Rico.

Many of these destinations have already seen incentive business soar this year, with Costa Rica, Bahamas, Budapest, Italy and Aruba all ranking as top global destinations for incentives in 2019 (see lists below).

On the conference and meeting side, US destinations look set to be popular next year with seven of the top ten spots on the Meeting & Conference Destination Hot List taken by US cities – San Diego, Nashville, Las Vegas and New Orleans, Washington D.C, Austin and Phoenix.

GDP’s Global Destination Index and Hot Lists present the most popular meeting and incentive destinations around the world for 2019 and global markets that are already trending for 2020. 

They are based on data collected from nearly 7,000 meeting and incentive programmes in the over 500 destinations that Global DMC Partners represents through its network of independently owned DMCs.

To compile the index, Global DMC Partners evaluated leads received from their global client base of meeting and event planners organising meetings, conferences, incentives and business events around the world in 2019 and 2020. The data was separated into two categories, meetings and incentives, to highlight how cities attract different types of groups.

Here are the full lists:

Top 2019 Global Destinations for Incentives:

1. Costa Rica

2. France

3. Bahamas

4. Italy

5. Miami

6. Budapest

7. Lisbon

8. Prague

9. Cancun

10. Aruba

2020 Incentive Destination Hot List

1. Greece

2. Bahamas

3. Costa Rica

4. Budapest

5. Aruba

6. Iceland

7. New York

8. Italy

9. Switzerland

10. Puerto Rico

Top 2019 Global Destinations for Meetings & Conferences:

1. Paris

2. Copenhagen

3. Chicago

4. San Francisco

5. Budapest

6. Orlando

7. Barcelona

8. Washington, D.C.

9. Prague

10. Las Vegas

2020 Meeting & Conference Destination Hot List

1. San Diego

2. Nashville

3. Singapore

4. Las Vegas

5. New Orleans

6. Tokyo

7. Washington, D.C.

8. Austin

9. Bahamas

10. Phoenix