The US is followed by Germany with 682 events, the UK with 592 events, and Spain and Italy with 564 and 515 events, respectively. Europe thus remains a leading continent, having hosted 53.6% of all scientific and professional meetings, Turizem Ljubljana said in today's press release.

Ljubljana hosted 44 events to rank 56th among cities, sharing the spot with Croatia's Zagreb. This is a slightly poorer result than the year before, when it was 47th with 54 events.

Barcelona was the most popular city for congresses and conventions for the first time since 2004. It hosted a total of 195 events. Paris, which was the top destination in 2016, ranked second last year with 190 events.

The first non-European city on the list is Singapore in sixth place with 160 events.

Ljubljana ranked close to Krakow (45 events) and Tallinn and Munich (46 events each), and was followed by Göteborg (41), Florence (40) and Bucharest (39).

Among European cities, the Slovenian capital ranked 28th.

The most congresses and conventions were held in Ljubljana in October, September, June and May.

The annual ICCA country and city rankings report is the most respected global comparison of destinations' performance in attracting international meetings, the association says on its web site.

However, the report covers only a narrow segment of the meetings industry, only including international association meetings that rotate between at least three countries, have a proven attendance of at least 50 participants, and are held on a regular basis.

This means that it does not include data on business conferences, intergovernmental meetings and motivational trips, which are an important part of the international meetings industry, Turizem Ljubljana said, noting that 2018 will be a record-breaking year in terms of congress events for Ljubljana.