Lisbon has claimed the number one position in the International Congress and Convention Association's (ICCA) 2025 GlobeWatch rankings, confirming its place as the world's leading destination for international association meetings and reinforcing Portugal's growing reputation as one of Europe's premier locations for global business events.
The rankings, revealed at IMEX Frankfurt, were compiled from data covering more than 12,438 international association meetings held in 162 countries and territories across 1,603 cities globally.
In the city-level standings, Lisbon pushed past both Paris and Barcelona to take first place. Rounding out the top ten were Vienna, Singapore, Prague, Copenhagen, London, Seoul and Tokyo.
Looking at the country rankings, Portugal came in 8th worldwide, trailing the United States, Italy, Germany, Spain and the UK, which took 5th place.
The data confirms Europe's continued dominance of the global meetings sector, with the continent responsible for 53 per cent of all events studied — far outpacing Asia Pacific's 22 per cent share and North America's 10 per cent. Medical sciences, technology and science remain the dominant subject areas for international gatherings, and this year's edition of the report introduced a new measure tracking venue types, confirming that convention and exhibition centres remain the backbone of leading event destinations.
Commenting on the result, Paul Stannard, chairman and founder of Portugal Pathways and the Portugal Investment Owners Club, said: “For Lisbon, this accolade is further validation of a city that has spent the past decade transforming itself into a genuine global events hub, one capable of attracting everything from scientific congresses to the world's largest technology gathering.
“Nowhere is that transformation more visible than at Web Summit, the tech conference that has called Lisbon home since 2016. Having outgrown its Dublin origins, the event has become the largest technology gathering on the planet, and its most recent edition underlined why the city continues to punch so far above its weight on the global stage.”
The scale of that event speaks for itself. Web Summit 2025 drew a record 71,386 attendees from 157 countries, together with 2,725 exhibiting startups from 108 countries and 1,857 investors — a 74 per cent increase on the prior year. Of the startups that exhibited at the 2024 edition, close to 200 went on to raise a combined total of more than $715 million in post-event funding, underlining the commercial impact these gatherings can have on a host city.
Each November, for four days, Lisbon becomes a hub of the global innovation economy — hotels, restaurants and venues across the city fill up, generating precisely the kind of high-value, high-spend visitor activity that feeds directly into ICCA's rankings.
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This pattern is borne out by wider industry data too. Saf Ismail, CEO of London's QEII Centre, responding to the same ICCA findings, pointed out that delegates at international business events spend at four times the rate of domestic visitors, with non-European visitors to the UK spending an average of £1,824 per trip.
Lisbon reflects that same dynamic: events of this scale generate a far greater economic footprint than typical leisure tourism.
Portugal's international standing looks set to grow further in the years ahead. In 2030, the country will jointly host the FIFA World Cup with Spain and Morocco — the first time the tournament will be staged across three countries and two continents.
The tournament is expected to deliver a major boost to Portugal's tourism sector, infrastructure and global visibility, building on the reputation for business events and innovation that Lisbon has already established through Web Summit and its expanding roster of international congresses.
Between the ICCA rankings, Web Summit's ongoing growth and the World Cup on the horizon, the direction of travel is clear: Lisbon, and Portugal as a whole, have secured their place on the world stage — and there's more to come.
About Portugal Investment Owners Club
The Portugal Investment Owners Club, or P Club for short, is a unique investor membership community designed for discerning individuals, families, and organisations committed to exploring and capitalising on life in Portugal and enjoying money-can't-buy experiences and exclusive events.
About Portugal Pathways
Portugal Pathways has supported hundreds of Golden Visa residency-by-investment applications and provides expert guidance through its professional supply chain network on estate planning, wealth management, Golden Visa and tax optimisation, including post-NHR / IFICI tax regime planning, as well as private healthcare, money transfers and bespoke relocation and luxury real estate solutions to enhance life and investment in Portugal
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