Beyond the Rankings

The 2025 UIA International Meetings Statistics Report marks an important moment in the evolution of the European congress market. As the effects of the post-pandemic recovery gradually recede, the latest findings provide one of the clearest indications yet of the structural forces reshaping international competitiveness.

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While annual rankings continue to attract most public attention, they reveal only the final outcome of a much broader competitive process. Behind each national position lies the ability of destinations to attract international association meetings and, more importantly, the effectiveness of the strategies that transform local strengths into sustained national performance.

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This paper argues that the most significant message emerging from the 2025 Report is not the movement of individual countries or cities within the rankings, but the growing divergence between different models of congress development. Some countries continue to rely primarily on a single dominant destination, while others, such as Italy, compete through a network of internationally recognised congress cities whose collective performance depends increasingly on strategic coordination.

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The analysis suggests that future competitiveness will be shaped less by infrastructure alone and more by the ability of destinations to build integrated ecosystems where scientific excellence, institutional leadership, international collaboration and long-term governance reinforce one another. In this evolving environment, rankings should be interpreted not as an end in themselves, but as indicators of deeper structural transformations affecting the European meetings industry.