The International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) has released its annual rankings, with the US and Lisbon leading the country and city lists respectively. The UK ranked 5th, with London rising to 8th place on the city list.
Presented at IMEX Frankfurt, ICCA’s flagship ICCA GlobeWatch: Business Analytics – Country & City Rankings analysed data from more than 12,438 international association meetings worldwide, representing 162 countries and territories, and 1603 cities.
Europe (53 per cent) holds the largest share, followed by Asia Pacific (22 per cent) and North America (10 per cent), while Latin America (9 per cent), Africa (4 per cent) and the Middle East (2 per cent) continue to grow their presence.
The US continued to lead the global country rankings, with Japan climbing two spots (6th), and China closing the top 10 list. The other APAC destination that made the top 11-20 list is South Korea.
At the city level, Lisbon, Paris and Barcelona lead the 2025 rankings. Vienna, Singapore, Prague, Copenhagen, London, Seoul, and Tokyo round out the top 10, while Bangkok and Hong Kong are the only other APAC destinations in the top 11-20 list.
Rankings at a glance:
Country
1 US
2 Italy
3 Germany
4 Spain
5 UK
6 Japan
7 France
8 Portugal
9 Netherlands
10 China
City
1 Lisbon
2 Paris
3 Barcelona
4 Vienna
5 Singapore
6 Prague
7 Copenhagen
8 London
9 Seoul
10 Tokyo
Meeting breadth and depth
Medical sciences, technology, and science remain the leading knowledge sectors, with education,
industry, social sciences, management, and economics following.
Every sector also has its champion.
While the US continues to dominate medical sciences, sciences and technology, Japan ranks in the top three for the latter two sectors. On the city front, Singapore, Bangkok, Tokyo, Seoul and Hong Kong are all included in the top 10 sector lists.
In terms of size, meetings of 1,000 participants or more have returned to or exceeded 2019 levels, with the largest congresses (those above 3,000) back exactly where they were. Mega conventions proved the most durable format of all.
Meetings with 2,000 or more participants generate significant economic returns, yet they account for just 2.8 per cent of all meetings.
Adding venue to the menu
Apart from the usual rankings for region, meeting size and subject sector, this year's edition introduced a new marker: venue types.
Convention and exhibition centres (27 per cent) remain the anchor of event destinations. “Cities like Barcelona, Dubai, Seoul, and Vancouver have made generational investments in their convention facilities because the returns are proven,” the report noted.
It added that stimulus programmes in Saudi Arabia, India, China, and the US hav allocated billions of dollars for next-generation convention centres.
Planners and attendees are also increasingly open to alternative venues, such as universities (36 per cent), hotels (28 per cent), and other venues (9 per cent).
Commenting on London's ranking, Saf
Ismail, CEO, The QEII Centre said: "London's rise
to 8th in the 2025 ICCA City Rankings, up from 11th, is a result the industry
has earned. It places London firmly in the global top ten, ahead of Seoul and
Tokyo, and confirms the city's standing as one of the world's foremost destinations
for international association meetings.
"The ICCA
report is clear: international business event delegates spend at a ratio of 4:1
compared to domestic counterparts, with non-European visitors to the UK
averaging £1,824 per trip. These are not leisure tourists passing through. They
are scientists, policymakers, clinicians and innovators, and the events that
bring them together generate economic and intellectual legacies that compound
for years.
"There is more
to do. The ICCA data shows competitors investing heavily in national strategy
and long-term legacy frameworks. London's response must be equally ambitious.
But this ranking is a signal worth celebrating and a foundation worth building
on."
