Congress tourism record double-digit growth in 2024

Between meetings, congresses, events and trade fairs (Mice) in 2024 some 850,000 travellers arrived in Italy, staying on average 3.2 days for a total of 2.75 million overnight stays. Their tourist expenditure amounted to 800 million. These are the key figures of the Mice sector, which for Italy was particularly brilliant, "a record year", Enit stated when presenting the balance sheet of the sector: 340 thousand foreign travellers arrived in Italy to attend conferences (+22.7% over 2023), while those arriving to visit trade fairs totalled 500 thousand (+18.3%). Overnight stays linked to congresses also increased by +14.5% to 1.152 million, and to trade fairs by +18.4% (1.6 million). Tourism expenditure followed the same positive trend: that linked to travel to congresses reached 270 million (+20% compared to the previous year), while expenditure for visiting trade fairs marked an even greater increase, +27.7% or 530 million. But the Mice (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Exhibitions) segment represents one of the most dynamic and high value-added components of the hospitality industry. "Mice is a strategic segment for our country. We are satisfied with the growth recorded, a sign that Italy knows how to respond to different types of tourism requests," commented Ivana Jelinic, Enit's CEO. "Fairs and congresses bring with them a significant induced activity, a tourist expenditure of 800 million and more than 800 thousand foreign travellers arriving. A fundamental contribution for the entire country system, with a strong economic relapse, not to mention the effect of return tourism'.

Among the main source markets, Germany continues to lead both in terms of number of travellers and nights with a share of 13% of the total. This is followed by France (10.3% travellers; 6.7% nights), the UK (7.9% travellers; 8.2% nights), Spain (7.7% travellers; 7.2% nights) and the USA (5.7% travellers; 8% nights). In terms of revenue, the USA ranked first (14.5% of the total), followed by Germany (10.6%). Completing the top 5: France, the UK, Japan and Spain tied. Berlin thus confirms itself as a key market for the Italian hospitality industry: in 2024 German visitors spent almost 9 billion (+8%) in Italy. In the period between May 2024 and April 2025 alone, some 31.3 million German tourists travelled abroad, staying at least one night in a foreign country. Italy is the second European destination chosen by these travellers, welcoming 8.3% of the total flows in the period, marking a growth of 10% compared to 2023 . For the current year, it is estimated that total arrivals from Germany to Italy will grow by +4.3%: with leisure flows predominating, accounting for 41.6% of the total, and business flows for 19.1%.

Confirmation of Italy's exploit in the Mice market comes from the International congress and convention association (Icca) 2024 ranking that assigns Italy second place, with 635 international congresses and significant growth (+82 congresses over 2023) compared to other European markets. Firmly in first place is the United States with 709 congresses, but the gap between the two countries has narrowed. In the meetings industry, the Icca ranking is the leading global indicator of congress tourism, based on the analysis of international congresses that are repeated periodically and rotate between at least three countries. In an increasingly competitive environment - Europe now accounts for 56% of the world's conference content - all countries are investing in attracting strategic meetings.

 Italy is not only keeping pace, but growing more than anyone else, demonstrating structural maturity and superior competitive ability. This is also confirmed by the performance of Italian cities: Rome confirms its place in the world's top 10, taking 9th place with 114 international congresses. Milan moved up from 29th to 14th place with 100 congresses and is the third city in the world for the average number of participants per congress. Bologna, Naples, Florence and Turin are also on a positive trend, bringing the number of Italian cities in the global top 100 to six. In total, Italy is represented by 20 cities in the Icca Top 300, the highest number in the world, and by 24 in the Icca Top 400. In fact, our country is third in the world for the number of congresses in the technology sector and in the medical-scientific sector, two key areas for the development of knowledge and for the long-term induced effects that these events bring.

"This result returns the image of a system that has finally understood the strategic value of Mice for the economic and territorial development of our country. As Confindustria Alberghi, we have believed from the very beginning in the Convention Bureau Italia project, of which we are founding members, aimed at representing and promoting Italian excellence in the international Mice panorama," says Elisabetta Fabri, President of Associazione Italiana Confindustria Alberghi. "The result achieved by Italian cities in the international classification is confirmation that Italy can compete, and win, in the segments with the highest added value of tourism. Mice is in fact a fundamental driver of deseasonalisation, internationalisation and qualification of the accommodation offer. But now we need continuity. What has been achieved is not a point of arrival but of departure: global competition is very strong, and to remain at the top of the league table we need investment, training, and modern infrastructures. We are certain that conference tourism is not just an opportunity, but a strategic lever for the economic and sustainable growth of the country'.