ICCA Rankings Show Significant Growth of Bruges as Congress Destination
The international congress and convention association ICCA recently published its 2025 ‘Country and City Rankings’ report which shows that Bruges is taking a solid leap forward, achieving its best score ever.
The benchmark of the Country and City Rankings report only takes into account conferences of international associations that take place on a regular basis, rotate between different countries and have a minimum of 50 participants. Bruges rises in the world ranking from position 196 to 135 and in the European ranking from position 110 to 81. Over a five-year period (2019-2024), Bruges performs better in these rankings by 132 and 52 positions.
New convention centre and efforts by local partners
Brugges owes this positive trend to well thought-out policies. In the business segment, the city has always been a popular destination for smaller business meetings. For several years now, they have been proactively applying with the Visit Bruges Convention Bureau to attract residential, multi-day association conferences that have a link to their economic growth sectors.
In addition, Brugges has made targeted investments from the City in state-of-the-art conference infrastructure. A good example is the BMCC, their convention centre in the middle of the city centre. The city recognises the local partners for their efforts in terms of sustainability and their willingness to work towards the same goal from a shared ambition.
Association conferences
Sales figures from Visit Bruges Convention Bureau show that Bruges is well on its way to building a strong position in the field of association conferences. The City's official convention bureau brings supply and demand into contact with each other and supports organisers and local partners in their operations. Through the mediation of the convention bureau, 22 association conferences with almost 8,000 participants took place in 2024. In 2023, there were 20 with almost 6,000 participants. For 2025, 24 association congresses are in the pipeline, accounting for almost 12,000 participants.
Association conferences have great economic importance, but are increasingly meaningful for the local population as well. Conferences with a positive social impact is an international trend that Brugges is embracing in their tourism policy and support from their congress operation.
The conference of the European Academy for Childhood Disability that took place in Bruges in 2024, is already a good reference to build on. The organisation behind the world's largest conference in the field of neuro-motor disorders developed a publicly accessible offer in the field of sport, culture and technology on the basis of this theme. This ‘plus programme’ was awarded the ‘Incredible Impact Award’ by ICCA.
Published by Meeting Media Group, the publisher of Headquarters Magazine (HQ) – a leading international publication based in Brussels, serving the global MICE industry and association community.
