The Confindustria Conference Centre in Rome yesterday hosted “The value of the meetings industry: interpreting the future through OICE data”. The event, promoted by Federcongressi&eventi, Italy’s association for the conference and business events industry, shed light on the current state and future trends in conference tourism, a sector that generated direct economic value of EUR 13.2 billion in 2025.
As emerged during the event, the Italian meetings industry is undergoing consolidation. Despite a complex global economic, political and social landscape, it recorded an average annual compound growth rate of 6.4% between 2022 and 2025. Looking at 2025, the Italian Survey of Conferences and Events [Osservatorio Italiano dei Congressi e degli Eventi– OICE] promoted by Federcongressi&eventi and conducted by the Graduate School of Economics and International Relations of Università Cattolica–ASERI revealed that 365,789 events were held in Italy, with delegates totalling 28,627,455 and an attendance figure of 43,275,254.
This is therefore a mature market that at the same time is experiencing great change. Conferences and business events, such as meetings, conventions, and incentive events, are becoming increasingly strategic. Clients are placing greater emphasis on creating value through new formats and organisational processes, and the use of “unconventional” venues. From 2014 to 2025, these spaces increased the number of events hosted at a compound annual growth rate of 6.6%. Momentum was particularly strong following the pandemic, with average annual growth of 12.5% from 2022 onwards.
Federcongressi&eventi President Gabriella Gentile commented: “Ours is a strategic sector, which requires ongoing dialogue with institutions focused on developing shared strategies. This is not only in order to secure the financial support needed to guarantee Italy’s international competitiveness as a conference and events destination, but also to create the conditions that enable the meetings industry to realise its full potential in terms of economic growth, the promotion of local destinations, reducing tourism seasonality, developing high-quality tourism and promoting the Italy brand and its artistic, natural and industrial heritage”.
Italian conference tourism in numbers
According to the Italian Survey of Conferences and Events, despite tighter budget management, companies remain the primary market (61.4% of events), while the association market is expanding (24.4% of events). As regards participants’ origin, the proportion of national events fell from 39.4% in 2024 to 32.3%, while the proportion of local events rose from 47.2% to 54.8%. International events (12.9%) remained at high levels in 2025, despite a slight decline from 2024 (when they accounted for 13.4%), but were still up on the 2019 figure (9.8%).
Where do events and conferences take place? The North – home to more than half of Italy’s venues (53.4%)–hosted more than half the events (59.1%), with an increase of 1.8% compared with 2024. Central Italy hosted 23.7% of total events, the South 10.9% and the Islands 6.3%.
Hotels with meeting rooms remain the most popular type of venue and accounted for 76.6%of total events, 50.8% of participants and 51.1% of attendance.
Conference centres and trade fair conference venues – crucial to attracting major events and international congresses – accounted for 2.3% of events, 11.6% of participants and 15.4% of the total attendance figure.
“Following the post-pandemic recovery and rebound”, said Roberto Nelli, lecturer in marketing at Università Cattolica and scientific head of the research, “Italy’s meetings industry entered a new phase of equilibrium, with more international events and meetings of a shorter average duration but with a higher average number of participants compared to 2019. In 2025 events lasting more than one day attracted attendance of around 30 million, accounting for 10.4% of total overnight hotel stays in Italy, with an overall average per-capita spend of EUR 312, 3.7% higher than in 2024”.
Regarding investment, staff training and space refurbishments were the primary areas of focus for venues, confirming human capital and product quality as key drivers of the sector’s competitiveness.
Find out more about Federcongressi&eventi here.
