ICCA Congress 2025: Charting the Course for the Future of Events in Porto

© All photos kindly provided by ICCA

The ICCA Congress 2025 turned Porto into a laboratory for global events, blending tradition, innovation, and social purpose. With nine venues, thought-provoking debates, and timely topics, the flagship association also returned to Europe with a new, more active format. Between start-ups, technology, and a Forever Pact, the Portuguese city showed how second-tier cities can lead the industry.

HQ Magazine Manager, Manuel Fernandes, reports 

Arriving in Porto brought a mixed, almost uneasy feeling to me. As a brief disclaimer to our readers, I was born there and it has been very close to my heart since it was still a neighbourly, feisty and concealed human canvas in northern Portugal, which made me follow its transformation over the last decade with particular attention. On Saturday night, downtown was crowded and lively, as it tends to be these days: restaurants packed late into the night, small bars lining the streets, multiple languages mingling on the sloping streets. Porto has shifted from a discreet city to a global tourist hub, and while that revitalisation brought investment and visibility, it also deeply reshaped its social and economic fabric.

In this context, hosting the ICCA Congress was more than just another event: it worked as a practical test-bed of how large business events can help counterbalance traditional tourist flows, generating more qualified economic returns and broader societal value. Porto is not a capital, not a financial hub, nor a saturated metropolis and therein probably lies its strength. The growing relevance of so-called second-tier cities, a thesis we explored last year for HQ within the EU CVB Network, took concrete form here right from the outset.
 

The ICCA Congress 2025 took place under the motto ‘Charting the Course’, a formulation broad enough to accommodate both the strategic discourse and the political agenda that currently percolates the events industry. With around 1,500 participants, this was the largest edition ever held on European soil, confirming not only ICCA’s vitality, but also the diversity of profiles – among them event destinations, international associations, PCO’s, agencies, technology providers and institutional decision-makers. The atmosphere kept the typical ICCA relational vibe, but with a more visible political weight – especially in sessions where public policy, funding, destination impact, and changemaking were centre stage.

Porto played an active role in the congress, the programme and the social experience of the delegates. This was evident in the multivenue distribution of the sessions, which required real mobility between different urban areas; in the commitment to public transport and foot travel; and in the activation of cultural and historical facilities as workspaces.
 

The congress took place in nine different venues: the afternoon sessions were held at the Cruise Terminal, Caves Ferreira, CEiiA, WOW – World of Wine and Alfândega, which acted as the event’s headquarters; while the social programmes took place at the Coliseu do Porto, Palácio da Bolsa, Super Bock Arena and Arena do Estádio do Dragão. This model forced delegates to move around, which changed the pace of the congress. Not everything was perfect – there were delays, overlapping routes, and some logistical fatigue. But the overall effect was positive: ICCA left the single building, the carpeted floor, and blended into the surrounding environment. Meanwhile, instead of feeling like a foreign body temporarily installed in its host, the congress stimulated constant reflection on the territory.

In terms of legacy and social impact, the connection with the local community did not end with formal platitudes. Social responsibility projects involved local institutions, and several initiatives were designed to continue beyond the days of the congress, a clear attempt to avoid the extractive loop of events that come and go. One of the most interesting initiatives launched at the congress was the Porto & North Forever Pact, promoted by Visit Porto & North and co-created by #Meet4Impact with Portuguese consultancy Vale Consultores. The pact proposes a framework for action based on three tracks of change: Inclusion, Innovation & Creativity, and Wellbeing. More than a manifesto, the Forever Pact aims to be a working tool for the region – aligning events with long-term goals, involving public decision-makers, operators, and local communities, and measuring impact on an ongoing basis.
 

The educational programme was extensive and multi-modal. There were some solid moments of critical sector analysis, particularly in sessions that crossed public policy with multilateral involvement in international meetings (the ‘Ministers’ Panel’); major cultural and sporting events with the sustainable growth of destinations (‘Game-Changers or Chaos-Makers?’); and climate change, demographic transitions and the urban impact on the global economy by Professor Greg Clark’s keynote speech. Accessibility and inclusion were also addressed through a human-centred lens in Christian Bason’s lecture. Still, it was Tuesday’s ‘Association Leadership Quest’ session that most clearly broke with the comfortable tone of institutional discourse. Faced with geopolitical instability, fragile business models and rising member expectations, association leaders admitted they now manage more crises than strategies. Co-creation with destinations was defended over rigid purchasing processes, alongside a shift from associations as knowledge archives to competence builders. Persistent failures in transparency, post-contract support and hidden costs were also openly acknowledged.

On Monday, the Innovation & Technology Track proved pragmatic and hands-on. At CEiiA – Centre of Engineering and Product Development, there was much talk of artificial intelligence, but with skeptical enthusiasm. Technology appeared as a tool for associations, with discussions on personalisation, data, automation, but also risks, privacy and dependence. There were solid sessions on hybrid models, digital marketing and a future design showcase on technology serving sustainability. The next day, the Purposeful Business Models & Start-Ups Track sought to shift the debate on innovation and purpose from rhetoric to practicality, questioning which business templates make sense today in a sector pressured by economic uncertainty and public funding. The group discussion in which I took part brought some candour to the table by admitting that many legacy projects fail while trying to square impact with unrealistic cost structures and little Board support. In the Purpose Labs, participants worked on pitches, financing, RFPs with impact criteria, and intersections between real industry needs and emerging solutions.
 

On the last day, the awards ceremony recognised the best in class: the Incredible Impacts Award 2025 honoured the World Organisation of Family Doctors (WONCA) for the lasting impact of its world conference on rural health in Limerick, Ireland, in promoting equitable access and tangible national reforms; while the Best Marketing Award went to Visit Faroe Islands for its Closed for Maintenance – Open for Voluntourism campaign, a rare case where destination marketing and environmental preservation reached international heights. The congress officially closed with the announcement of the next destination, Panama City, in 2026, where the community of associations and CVBs will meet once again to take centre stage in the discussion of major congresses.

Published by Meeting Media Company, the publisher of Headquarters Magazine (HQ) – a leading international publication based in Brussels, serving the global MICE industry and association community.