2026-05-28 00:00:00
Last updated: May 2026. Written by Ernesto Martínez, Senior Event Planner, CREA Group Events & DMC.
If you organise international events, this number changes the conversation with your board. You no longer have to justify why Spain: now Spain justifies it for you. In the ICCA 2025 ranking, unveiled at IMEX Frankfurt, Barcelona rises to 3rd place worldwide and Spain becomes the only country in the world with two cities in the top 20. When you choose Spain for your congress or your incentive, you are not making a bet: you are choosing a destination that is already in the global premier league.
→ What the ICCA ranking is and why it pays you to know it → The 2025 figures: Barcelona 3rd and Spain with two cities in the top 20 → The figure that goes beyond position: sector leadership → What the ranking measures (and what it leaves out) → What it means for you, the one organising the event → Spain's MICE tourism, in perspective
The ICCA ranking is produced by the International Congress and Convention Association, and it measures how many rotating international congresses each city and country hosts over the year. Within the MICE sector (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Exhibitions), it is the most recognised benchmark for which destinations genuinely attract international association activity.
It pays you to know it for a practical reason: when you defend a destination to your committee or your client, this ranking is the argument that ends the debate. An international congress is not won by chance. It reflects a city's ability to combine infrastructure, air connectivity, venues, hotels and a supplier network capable of sustaining an event of several thousand delegates. When a city rises in the ICCA, it proves that ecosystem works. Lean on it, and your choice of destination stops being an opinion and becomes a fact.
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The ICCA GlobeWatch 2025 report, unveiled at IMEX Frankfurt, analysed 12,438 international association meetings across 162 countries and 1,603 cities. These are the cities at the top of the ranking:
1️⃣ Lisbon: 188 congresses. First time it leads the global ranking.
2️⃣ Paris: 174 congresses. Back on the podium after the Olympic-year pause.
3️⃣ Barcelona: 166 congresses. Up from 4th to 3rd place.
Behind them come Vienna, Singapore, Prague, Copenhagen, London, Seoul and Tokyo to complete the top 10. And the figure that says the most about Spain's MICE sector: Spain is the only country with two cities in the top 20, with Barcelona 3rd and Madrid 13th, on 108 congresses. Two places among the world's top twenty is something no other country achieves this year. The report also confirms Europe's dominance and the rise of Asia, which places five cities in the top 20.
There is a detail that makes Barcelona's achievement even more notable: the city has now spent 25 consecutive years in the ranking's top 5, a streak no other city had managed before.
The overall position is only part of the story. The ICCA report also ranks cities by field of knowledge, and there Barcelona does not just appear: it leads. In 2025 it ranks as number 1 worldwide in scientific congresses, ahead of Paris, Vienna and Singapore; number 2 worldwide in medical congresses, behind only Vienna; and number 4 worldwide in technology congresses.
This matters more than the overall figure, and here is why. An international medical or scientific congress does not pick a host city for the weather: it picks it for the research base, the hospitals, the universities and the innovation centres around it. Barcelona leading these sectors means its case as a destination rests on a real knowledge ecosystem, not just on event infrastructure. For anyone organising a high-value congress, that is the signal that truly counts.
The two Spanish cities in the world's top 20 are exactly where CREA Group Events & DMC has its own offices: Madrid and Barcelona. Over 19 years we have run more than 120 projects a year and more than 10,000 attendees from 70 countries, so we know the ground the ICCA ranking rewards, because we work on it every week.
You do not need a confirmed event to talk to us. Tell us the idea and we will tell you which city fits your objective best.
👉 Tell us about your event project in Spain.
Here is the reading only someone who knows the sector from the inside makes. The ICCA ranking measures rotating international congresses: association events that change host city each year and that cities compete for, bid by bid. It is a demanding, clean metric, because it is not inflated by recurring events.
And that is exactly what it leaves out, which is worth knowing: it does not count the major congresses that do not rotate, but are held in the same city every year. In Barcelona's case, that means events the size of the Mobile World Congress or ISE do not enter the ranking's count. Put another way, Barcelona's 3rd place is achieved without counting its flagship events. The city's real activity is even greater than the number reflects.
This distinction matters for reading the figure with judgement: the ICCA ranking is a solid signal of a destination's strength, but it is a floor, not a ceiling. It measures a demanding slice of the pie, not the whole pie.
Beyond the headline, this figure works in your favour the moment you choose Spain. Here is what you get:
➝ You save yourself justifying the destination. Barcelona and Madrid being in the world's top 20 means their venues, hotels and suppliers are sized for top-tier international events. When you defend it to your leadership, the ranking speaks for you.
➝ You choose without giving anything up. You have Barcelona and Madrid without leaving Spain: two highly connected airports, two mature supplier ecosystems and two distinct city personalities to fit your event's objective. The hard decision becomes a luxury of options.
➝ You lower your risk. A destination that sustains international congresses year after year has a supply chain used to high demands. That maturity shows in the delivery of your event, even one far smaller than a congress. Fewer surprises, fewer sleepless nights.
In one sentence: the destination's authority works for you. You bring the objective; the ecosystem is already proven.
The MICE sector is one of the highest-value segments of tourism, because a congress delegate or an incentive guest spends more and generates more economic activity than the average tourist. Spain placing two cities in the ICCA top 20 confirms that the country competes not only on sun and beach, but also in the league of business and high-value meetings tourism.
The 2025 picture, with Barcelona on the podium and Madrid holding its place in the world's top 20, shows a country with two complementary MICE engines. For anyone working in this sector, it confirms that Spain is today a premier-league destination for organising international events. If you want to understand how that destination strength translates into a specific project, let's look at it together.
Rank | City | Rotating international congresses |
|---|---|---|
1 | Lisbon | 188 |
2 | Paris | 174 |
3 | Barcelona | 166 |
4 | Vienna | 159 |
5 | Singapore | 156 |
6 | Prague | 133 |
7 | Copenhagen | 131 |
8 | London | 124 |
9 | Seoul | 121 |
10 | Tokyo | 119 |
11 | Bangkok | 118 |
12 | Berlin | 112 |
13 | Madrid | 108 |
14 | Brussels | 105 |
15 | Hong Kong | 102 |
16 | Rome | 101 |
17 | Athens | 100 |
18 | Dublin | 95 |
19 | Amsterdam | 91 |
20 | Buenos Aires | 91 |
Source: ICCA GlobeWatch: Business Analytics – Country & City Rankings 2025, unveiled at IMEX Frankfurt (via eventoplus).
Spain is the only country in the world with two cities in the top 20 of the ICCA 2025 ranking of international congress cities: Barcelona in 3rd place and Madrid in 13th. It is a result no other country matches this year, and it confirms the strength of Spain's MICE tourism.
Barcelona holds 3rd place worldwide with 166 international congresses in 2025, behind Lisbon and Paris. It also has 25 consecutive years in the top 5, an unprecedented streak. Its strength comes from combining venues, air connectivity, hotels and a mature supplier network. And the figure is achieved without counting its large non-rotating congresses, such as the Mobile World Congress, which the ranking does not measure.
It measures the number of rotating international congresses each city and country hosts: international association events that change host city each year. It does not include congresses always held in the same city, nor purely corporate events, so it is a demanding metric that reflects a destination's ability to win international bids.
MICE stands for Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions: the tourism segment dedicated to meetings, incentive travel, congresses and trade fairs. It is one of the highest economic-value segments of tourism, because attendees at these events generate more spending and activity than the average leisure tourist.
Barcelona is number 1 worldwide in scientific congresses, number 2 in medical congresses (behind Vienna) and number 4 in technology congresses, according to the subject breakdown of the ICCA GlobeWatch 2025 report. This sector leadership reflects the strength of its research, hospital and university base, which is what attracts the highest-value international congresses.
This article was written by Ernesto Martínez, Senior Event Planner at CREA Group Events & DMC, with more than 10 years of experience planning and running MICE programmes in Spain. Ernesto has coordinated projects for corporate groups from the US, the UK, the Middle East and Asia, with a focus on high-budget incentives and events around major international fixtures.
CREA Group Events & DMC has spent 19 years developing MICE programmes in Spain, running more than 120 projects a year and welcoming over 10,000 attendees from 70 countries. It has been a member of SITE since 2016, of ADMEI since 2019, and holds the Biosphere sustainability certification since 2018. With its own offices in Madrid and Barcelona, the two Spanish cities in the world's ICCA top 20, it keeps strong local roots and a network of trusted partners — venues and suppliers — built across hundreds of events on the ground.
📍 Madrid office: Cl. de Ayala, 82, 5º Dcha, Salamanca, 28001 Madrid Find us on Google Maps
📍 Barcelona office: Carrer de Santaló, 10, 3-1, Sarrià-Sant Gervasi, 08021 Barcelona Find us on Google Maps
If you want to organise a congress, convention or incentive in Spain, get in touch about working together.
Last updated: May 2026.
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