Japan is the highest ranked Asian country on ICCA GlobeWatch: Business Analytics – Country & City Rankings 2025. Photo Credit: istock/fazon1
The International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) has released its annual ICCA GlobeWatch: Business Analytics – Country & City Rankings 2025, with the US and Lisbon leading the Country and City lists respectively.
Presented at IMEX Frankfurt, ICCA’s flagship research publication analysed data from more than 12,438 international association meetings worldwide, representing 162 countries and territories, and 1603 cities.
Europe (53%) holds the largest share, followed by Asia Pacific (22%) and North America (10%). Latin America (9%), Africa (4%) and the Middle East (2%) 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:
By Country
US
Italy
Germany
Spain
UK
Japan
France
Portugal
Netherlands
China
By City
Lisbon
Paris
Barcelona
Vienna
Singapore
Prague
Copenhagen
London
Seoul
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% of all meetings.
Adding venue to the menu
Apart from the usual rankings for region, meeting size and subject sector, the 2025 edition introduced a new marker: venue types.
Convention and exhibition centres (27%) 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 have
allocated billions of dollars for next-generation
convention centres.
Planners and attendees are also increasingly open to alternative venues, such as universities (36%), hotels (28%), and other venues (9%).