Full ICCA History
Moises Shuster and Jean-Claude Murat, travel agents from Mexico and Paris respectively, discussed the concept of ICCA in order to take advantage of the then new phenomenon of international association meetings. The unique original idea was for business owners from different countries to share information and gain a competitive advantage.
ICCA has been around since 1963, and originally just allowed travel agency memberships. 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 the first formal set of notarised Articles and Bylaws, and the first official Head Office is set up in The Hague in The Netherlands.
1971
The very first geographical Chapter covering Latin America is set up. Geoffrey Grey-Forton becomes Acting Executive Director, and management of the association starts to become more professional and less volunteer-led in character.
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 By-laws are amended to give full and equal governance rights to all members, regardless of which category they belonged to.
1982
ICCA grows into 69 countries with 264 member companies.
1990
ICCA elects its first female President, Jacqueline Pietri from the Nice Convention Bureau.
1997
ICCA renames its annual most important event as the “ICCA Congress,” and encourages non-members to attend 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
Global Research Centre is established in Malaysia to support 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
Destination Comparison Tool (now known as ICCA Business Analytics) launches at IMEX 2015, bringing a new flexibity and relevance to ICCA members’ future marketing plans.
2020
ICCA Association Community launches encompassing all major stakeholders in the world of association meetings by offering education, connections, tools and resources to associations to organise more effective meetings.
2022
ICCASkills—the world's first certification programme of its type globally recognised for suppliers across every sector of the meetings industry—launches.
2023
In partnership with Simpleview, ICCA undergoes a digital transformation and debuts the new ICCA website and database, offering members an even greater value proposition.