Istanbul registers best performance as congress city in 8 years

ISTANBUL

Istanbul has risen among the world’s congress cities, demonstrating its best performance in the last eight years, with the goal to be among the top 10 cities with the most congresses in the world.

Sekib Avdagic, president of the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (ITO) and Istanbul Convention and Visitors Bureau (ICVB), told Anadolu that Istanbul continues to grow rapidly in global tourism and the congress sector and the investments made in the last five years have yielded results.

Istanbul, ranking 16th in Europe and 21st worldwide, hosted 72 congresses in 2023, up by 14 year-on-year, with the number of participants ranging from 300 to 25,000 according to ICVB data.

Paris ranked first worldwide, having hosted 156 congresses in 2023, followed by Singapore with 152 and Lisbon with 151.

Istanbul jumped four positions in Europe and two worldwide in the ranking of world congress cities last year, according to the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA).

Citing ICCA data, Avdagic said that 19 international congresses with the number of participants ranging from 250 to 7,000 will be held in Istanbul in 2024.

He noted that the ICVB supported six international congresses with a total of 12,800 participants and they are currently working on 13 international congresses to be held in Istanbul in 2025 and beyond.

Istanbul will host many international congresses with more than 24,000 “congress tourists” attending this year.

*Writing by Emir Yildirim