Brussels is still the world's leading city for international meetings organised by international associations, according to the annual UIA ranking published today. This excellent result confirms the record figures for tourism in our capital.

The Union of International Associations published its annual report. It’s the 66th edition of the so-called International Meetings Statistics Report, one of the most important benchmarks in the meetings industry.

Brussels again in the lead

As in the previous edition, our capital sits at the top of the list. This means that Brussels has the most international meetings held by international non-profit associations.

The report refers to a total of 8,859 meetings held around the world in 2024. No fewer than 388 (7%) of these took place in Brussels. In second place is Vienna, with 239 meetings, and rounding off the top three is Seoul, with 180. Next are Barcelona and Tokyo, with 159 and 148 respectively.

It is already the fourth time in a row that our capital is the global leader. As such, Brussels is consolidating its position as an international congress city. Over the entire 2005-2024 period, Brussels has sat firmly in first place, followed by Singapore and Vienna. 

Convention and Association Bureau

Elisabeth Van Ingelgem, Director Strategy and International at visit.brussels is delighted with the results: "Some 2,470 international associations have their headquarters in our capital. These can count on the active support of visit.brussels' Convention and Association Bureau. In 2024, we achieved great results through recurring events such as the European Week of Regions and Cities at Square, Hydrogen Europe at Brussels Expo and FARI at Flagey. These are business events that attract thousands of participants for every edition. Last year we also attracted many new professional meetings such as AMI Plastics World, EthCC and the World Cocoa Conference. In 2025, we aim to maintain this momentum. Because this year too, we have succeeded in attracting both recurring and new events to the capital of Europe."

Record figures for tourism

These fine results for Brussels came in a year which saw record figures for tourism. Never have here been as many people staying in our capital as there were in 2024. Brussels tourist accommodations recorded almost 10 million overnight stays last year. Brussels is doing better than in 2023 (+4.8% based on provisional figures) and has even surpassed the record from 2019 (+3.6%).

Not only did hotel capacity experience a boost in 2024, occupancy rates in Brussels hotels also improved. On average, 72.7% of Brussels hotel rooms were occupied, up 1% on the previous year. The good news was that the traditional off-peak months also saw improvement. There was, for instance, an increase in the months of January and February. The months of July, November and
December rose particularly sharply, which provided a better spread throughout the year.

According to Patrick Bontinck, CEO of visit.brussels, the figures show that efforts to promote tourism and cultural offerings in Brussels are paying off: “Brussels clearly has a unique, cosmopolitan profile. You notice that, when it comes to art, culture, gastronomy and nightlife, there’s always something happening. We are increasingly managing to capitalise on this. Thanks to our decentralisation strategy, we now also see that tourism is better spread throughout our capital.”