Madrid wins its seventh World’s Leading Meetings & Conference Destination award

07/12/2025

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Tourism services and information

Madrid was recognised as the World’s Leading Meetings & Conference Destination at the 32nd edition of the World Travel Awards. The Councillor for Tourism, Almudena Maíllo, accepted the award last night at the global gala of these prestigious tourism industry accolades, held at the Exhibition World Bahrain convention centre.

The capital once again earned recognition from industry professionals, securing the award for the seventh year in a row and reinforcing its reputation as a premier destination for professional events worldwide. Madrid competed against more than fifteen highly competitive cities in this field, including Singapore, Paris, Las Vegas, Sydney, Dubai and Seoul.

With this win, Madrid has become the most awarded city in this category since it began in 2013, surpassing Las Vegas, which has claimed it six times. The city was also recently named Europe’s Leading Meetings and Conference Destination for the eighth consecutive year in the regional edition of these awards.

As Maíllo highlighted, “It’s a moment of triumph for Madrid. Receiving this award for the seventh consecutive year is an unprecedented milestone that the entire city should be proud of. No other destination has ever received this accolade for so many years running, and the fact that it’s awarded by the industry itself makes it all the more meaningful”.

These awards, along with Madrid’s strong position in industry reports such as the 2026 Global Meetings and Events Forecast by Amex GBT—which ranks the city as Europe’s second most attractive destination for event organisers—highlight the quality and professionalism of Madrid’s meetings tourism, as well as its commitment to sustainability.

Public-private collaboration: The key to Madrid’s leadership

Public-private collaboration is one of the driving forces behind Madrid’s success in meetings tourism, which the city coordinates through Madrid Convention Bureau (MCB), the Department of Tourism’s division dedicated to this sector. Meetings tourism plays a vital role in the city’s overall tourism strategy. It boosts Madrid’s appeal as a year-round destination, has a positive influence on key indicators such as visitor spending and average length of stay, stimulates the local economy and aims to have a beneficial social and environmental impact on the capital. MCB brings together 240 companies representing all sectors involved in meetings tourism, from hotels and event agencies to transport providers and special venues.

The Councillor for Tourism also emphasised the economic importance of business tourism, stating that it “generates over €5.5 billion if we combine direct and indirect impact”. In Maíllo’s view, “this is a key sector for Madrid’s economy, and this award motivates us to continue supporting a model that generates employment, activity and international visibility”.

Positive results in 2025 and the 2026 action plan

Madrid expects to close 2025 on a high note for meetings tourism, building on the strong figures from 2024, when the city hosted over 54,700 meetings with 2.58 million participants. This year, MCB has organised 70 promotional activities, including trade fairs and exhibitions, familiarisation trips, representation visits and a range of other events and presentations. It has also collaborated with 187 conferences and 31 corporate events.

Next year, MCB’s action plan will focus on promoting Madrid as a meetings tourism destination and on attracting new business (conferences, conventions and incentive trips), with a particular emphasis on key markets in Latin America, North America and Europe. This promotional campaign will involve activities in both source markets and the city itself. Meanwhile, efforts to secure new opportunities will focus on meetings and events from sectors that are strategically important to Madrid—such as cybersecurity, fintech, healthcare and big data—fostering synergies and driving the capital’s economic development. Sustainability will be the guiding principle behind every initiative.

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