These twenty association meetings brought 72,000 professional visitors to the Spanish capital and created more than 42,000 direct and indirect jobs
- The majority of expenditure was on areas like accommodation and restaurants, which accounted respectively for 44 million and 20.5 million euro
- Among these heavily attended conferences hosted by Madrid last year, the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress and European Rotors were of particular note
- Efforts to attract and support these conferences are carried out via Madrid Convention Bureau (MCB), the municipal body responsible for promoting Madrid as a destination for professional events
- For 2024, Madrid has already confirmed twenty conferences with over 1,000 attendees
Last year, the city of Madrid hosted twenty major conferences with over 1,000 participants. According to economic analysis consultancy Oxford Economics, these twenty professional events alone had an economic impact of 88 million euro on the city, a figure which demonstrates the segment’s importance to Madrid’s tourism industry.
These conferences drew 72,000 attendees to the Spanish capital, enabling the creation of over 42,000 direct and indirect jobs. They included European Rotors, T3chFest, and the congresses held by the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), FTTH Council Europe, the Spanish Society of Emergency Medicine (SEMES), the Madrid Association of Pet Veterinarians (Vetmadrid), and the Spanish Society for Otorhinolaryngology (SEORL-PCF).
The bulk of expenditure was on accommodation in the Spanish capital, with 44 million euro spent in total. This was followed by restaurants (20.5 million), event-associated business services (8 million), transport (7.2 million), venue rental (3.5 million), shopping (2.5 million) and leisure (2.2 million).
Municipal efforts to attract and support conferences
The city council’s work to attract and provide support for these major conferences is of vital importance and is carried out via Madrid Convention Bureau (MCB), the municipal body tasked with promoting Madrid as a destination for professional meetings.
MCB is directly responsible for submitting bids for the capital to host these events and for providing support throughout the process, as well as offering a pioneering legacy programme which allows conferences to have a positive social and environmental impact on the city in addition to their economic impact. In 2023, it submitted 70 bids and provided support for 123 conferences.
More heavily attended conferences for 2024
In 2024, the city of Madrid will continue to host new major professional events which will further cement the Spanish capital’s leading position in the area of MICE tourism. So far this year, Madrid has confirmed it will host 20 major conferences with over 1,000 attendees.
They include, most notably, those held by the International Society for the Study of Vascular Anomalies (ISSVA), the World Federation of Hemophilia (WFH), the European Hematology Association (EHA), the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD), the Federation of European Risk Management Associations (FERMA), the International Continence Society (ICS), and the International Botanical Congress (IBC). These seven conferences demonstrate the variety of the sectors which choose Madrid to host their events due to both its services and its first-rate MICE tourism offerings./