A study on the feasibility and benefits of hosting an international conference: Focusing on attracting the ICCA congress

This study aims to provide valid evidence and references for the feasibility of hosting the ICCA, which requires a significant financial investment. To this end, this study uses industry linkage analysis to predict the economic impact of hosting the ICCA Congress in Seoul and utilizes the virtual value method to estimate industry stakeholders’ willingness to pay to host the ICCA. In addition, the contribution to social and cultural legacy creation was investigated and analyzed to determine the qualitative value of hosting the ICCA Congress. The analysis shows that hosting the ICCA General Assembly will generate a total of KRW 12.2 billion in production and KRW 5.2 billion in value added, and is expected to employ more than 96 people. In addition, the non-market value was estimated, and an average willingness to pay of KRW 217,614 per MICE industry stakeholder was confirmed. Finally, the results indicated that hosting the ICCA Congress has qualitative contributions, such as the growth of related industries and increased awareness of the host city.