- Madrid competed for this award with cities such as Singapore, Paris, Las Vegas, Sydney, Dubai and Seoul.
- Madrid becomes the first city in the world to win this award seven times.
- In October, the capital won the European edition of the World Travel Awards, being named the best European destination for meetings and conferences for the eighth consecutive year.
- Public-private collaboration is one of the keys to Madrid’s success in this segment and is developed through the Madrid Convention Bureau, the department specialising in meetings tourism within the Tourism Department.
- This year, the Madrid Convention Bureau has carried out 70 promotional activities and collaborated with 187 conferences and 31 corporate events.
- In 2026, it will develop an action plan to strategically promote Madrid in business tourism.
The city of Madrid has been named the world’s leading meetings and conference destination at the 32nd edition of the World Travel Awards. The Councillor for Tourism, Almudena Maíllo, collected the award last night at the global gala for these prestigious tourism industry awards held at the Exhibition World convention centre in Bahrain.
The capital has gained recognition from professionals in the sector and has once again, for the seventh consecutive year, won this award, consolidating its prestige as a venue for professional meetings at a global level. Madrid competed against more than fifteen highly competitive cities in this segment, including Singapore, Paris, Las Vegas, Sydney, Dubai and Seoul.
This makes Madrid the city that has won this category the most times since it was introduced in 2013, surpassing Las Vegas, which has won it six times. The city had just been recognised, for the eighth year, as the best European destination for meetings and conferences in the regional edition of these awards.
As Maíllo pointed out, “Madrid is in luck. Receiving this award for the seventh consecutive year is an unprecedented milestone and a source of pride for the entire city. Never before has a destination achieved this distinction for so many years in a row, and what’s more, it is awarded by the industry itself, which multiplies its value.”
These awards and Madrid’s good positioning in sector reports such as AMEX GBT Forecast 2026, which ranks it as the second most interesting destination in Europe for event organisers, endorse the quality and professionalism of Madrid’s meetings tourism and its commitment to sustainability.
Public-private partnership, key to Madrid's leadership
The public-private partnership channelled through the Madrid Convention Bureau (MCB), the department specialising in business tourism within the Tourism Department, is one of the keys to the city’s success in business tourism. This sector is fundamental to the municipal tourism strategy, which promotes the deseasonalisation of the destination, has a positive impact on indicators such as spending and average length of stay, stimulates the local economy and seeks to have a positive social and environmental impact on the capital. A total of 240 companies are part of the Madrid Convention Bureau, representing all the business sectors involved in business tourism, from hotels to event agencies, transport and special venues.
The Councillor for Tourism also highlighted the economic impact of business tourism, which ‘contributes more than 5.5 billion euros if we add up the direct and indirect impact’. In the words of Maíllo, ‘this is a key sector for the Madrid economy and this award encourages us to continue investing in a model that generates employment, activity and international visibility’.
Positive balance in 2025 and action plan for 2026
Madrid expects to close 2025 with a positive balance for business tourism and to consolidate the figures for 2024, a year in which more than 54,700 meetings and 2.58 million participants were recorded. The Madrid Convention Bureau has launched 70 promotional activities this year, including trade fairs and exhibitions, familiarisation trips, representation trips and other events and presentations. In addition, it has collaborated with a total of 187 conferences and 31 corporate events.
Next year, the Madrid Convention Bureau’s action plan will focus its efforts on promoting Madrid as a meeting destination and attracting business (conferences, conventions and incentive trips), with a strategy specifically aimed at the strategic markets of Latin America, North America and Europe. This promotion will combine actions at source and in the city itself, while the attraction of new opportunities will focus on attracting meetings and events from sectors that are strategic for Madrid, such as cybersecurity, fintech, healthcare and big data, promoting synergies and the economic development of the capital. Sustainability will be the common denominator of all actions.
Source: Press Office of TOURISM OF THE CITY OF MADRID