The History of ICCA

ICCA was founded in 1963 by a group of travel agents. Their original goal was to collect and share practical information about the market for international meetings. Shortly ICCA's formation, the meeting industry experienced a boom, and  many representatives from various sectors of the travel industry applied to become members.

More than 60 years later, ICCA's membership network of more than 1,000 suppliers to the international meetings industry spans the globe, with members in almost 100 countries. All companies and organisations seeking a strategic commitment to provide top-quality products and services for international meetings should join ICCA.

ICCA History: A Closer Look

Moises Shuster and Jean-Claude Murat, travel agents from Mexico and France, respectively, discussed the initial concept of ICCA as a way to take advantage of the new phenomenon of international association meetings. The original idea was for business owners from different countries to share information in order to gain a competitive advantage.

Originally, ICCA only allowed membership to travel agencies. However, in 1965 it opened its doors to other types of members, including destination marketing organisations (DMOs). The Mexico Tourist Board became the first DMO to join in 1965.

1967
ICCA's legal status is confirmed under Dutch law, with its first formal set of notarised articles and bylaws, and the first official head office is set up in The Hague, Netherlands. 

1971
The first geographical chapter covering Latin America is established. Geoffrey Grey-Forton becomes Acting Executive Director, and management of the association becomes more professional.

1972
Membership surpasses 160 companies from 41 countries, and a major restructuring of the association into eight categories is approved at the annual General Assembly in Paris.

1977
ICCA sets up its first computerised database.

1978
ICCA's bylaws are amended to give full and equal governance rights to all members, regardless of which category they belong to.

1982
ICCA grows to include 69 countries and 264 member companies.

1990
ICCA elects its first woman president, Jacqueline Pietri, of the Nice Convention Bureau.

1997
ICCA renames its annual cornerstone event the “ICCA Congress,” and encourages non-members to participate in a much more comprehensive strategic education programme.

1998
ICCA opens its first regional office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

1999
ICCA sets up a representative office for North America.

2001
The regional office for Latin America opens in Montevideo, Uruguay.

2006
As part of a major strategic review, ICCA adopts a new governance structure, which reduces eight categories to five sectors and creates new board representative positions for five geographical regions.

2007
A Global Research Centre is established in Malaysia to support the head office.

2013
ICCA celebrates its 50th anniversary. ICCA membership now encompasses almost 1,000 member companies and organisations in over 90 countries worldwide.

2014
Big Data Explorer launches at IMEX, giving ICCA members unique industry intel.

2015
The Destination Comparison Tool (now known as ICCA Business Intelligence) launches at IMEX 2015, bringing a new flexibity and relevance to ICCA members’ marketing plans.

2020

The ICCA Association Community launches, encompassing all major stakeholders in the world of association meetings by offering associations education, connections, tools, and resources to organise more effective meetings.

2022
ICCA launches ICCASkills, the world's first certification programme of its type, globally recognised for suppliers across every sector of the meetings industry.

2023

In partnership with Simpleview, ICCA undergoes a digital transformation and debuts a new ICCA website and database.