New York has retained its title as the most-visited city for in-person roadshows from Q3 2022 to Q3 2023, a position it has maintained since before the pandemic, with London the second most-visited city and Boston in third. These three cities were regularly the top three most-visited cities for in-person roadshows before Covid-19 curbed travel opportunities.
Travel to even these popular destinations is yet to recover to pre-pandemic levels, however: in 2019, more than seven in 10 companies visited New York, compared with 59 percent in 2023; 66 percent went to London, compared with 58 percent in 2023; and more than six in 10 visited Boston, versus just 37 percent in 2023.
Paris has held onto its place as the fourth most-visited city for roadshows, while Frankfurt is the highest climber, rising to fifth position after ranking joint-ninth in 2022. Other increasingly popular destinations include Singapore (joint-eighth, up from 12th in 2022), while Hong Kong, Amsterdam, Sydney and Tokyo have all returned to the top 20 after being absent last year. Oslo, Munich, Dallas and São Paulo have all dropped out of the 20 most popular destinations.
As might be expected, New York and Boston are the two most popular cities to visit for North American companies, with Toronto and London occupying third and fourth place, respectively, as they did in 2022. London, New York and Paris remain the most commonly visited cities for European companies, with Frankfurt overtaking Boston in fourth spot.
Singapore remains the most-visited city by Asian companies, while Hong Kong has recovered its second spot after dropping into joint fifth last year, when travel restrictions were still in place. Tokyo has entered the top five most popular destinations for Asian companies for the first time, while Beijing and Shanghai have both fallen out of the rankings.
When IR professionals were asked to pick their favorite city destination for in-person roadshows, London emerged as the most popular option overall, chosen by 36 percent of respondents, with New York and Singapore the second and third-most preferred destinations, respectively.
Respondents from North America named New York as their favorite destination, while London, Boston and Toronto were also popular. European respondents overwhelmingly chose London and New York as their preferred cities, while Asian IROs picked Singapore and New York.
