Istanbul leaves its mark on congress tourism

According to data from the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), Istanbul moved up one place last year in the world congress city rankings and entered the top 20 cities for the first time since 2015.

According to the statement made by the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (ITO), Istanbul moved up one place in the world and Europe rankings of world congress cities by hosting 86 international congresses with participants ranging from 50 to 7,300 in 2024.

While the number of major congresses held in Istanbul last year increased by 14 compared to the previous year, according to ICCA data, Istanbul moved up one place in the world congress city rankings last year.

Istanbul ranked 15th in Europe and 20th in the world among congress cities.

Istanbul, which aims to be in the top 10 in congress tourism, had previously achieved this goal in 2015, when it ranked 8th in the world. Vienna ranked first in the ICCA list in 2024 by hosting 154 congresses in the world, followed by Lisbon with 153 congresses and Singapore with 144 congresses.

According to ICCA's report, Istanbul ranked 8th in the world in the "Top 8 Cities for Medical Sciences Meetings in 2024" list, announced for the first time.

The President of the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce and Istanbul Convention and Visitors Bureau (ICVB), Şekib Avdagiç, whose views were included in the statement, said, “Step by step to the goal… While Istanbul was ranked 133rd in the world in the congress rankings in 2017, today it is 15th in Europe and 20th in the world. Our goal is to enter the top 10 permanently and increase our added value.”

Avdagiç stated that Istanbul has three important advantages in the global congress market: meeting venues, hotel facilities and international accessibility.

Avdagiç said, "Istanbul ranked second after London in the 'Best Performing Destinations in European Accommodation Statistics for 2024', determined by CityDNA, an international ranking of European cities, based on the total number of overnight stays. Similarly, Istanbul and Antalya ranked in the top 4 in CityDNA's 'Increase in International Travel to European Destinations' statistics. It is a source of pride that two cities from our country are among the fastest growing cities in Europe."

Avdagiç noted that they plan to hold CityDNA's next general assembly in Istanbul in the coming months.

"We are contacting 54 of the most important 'intellectual capital' leaders"

President Avdagiç stated that they, as the Tourism Development and Education Foundation (TUGEV) and ICVB, represent Istanbul in the global tourism and congress sectors, and that they are working to increase the number of congresses, which increased by 14 compared to the previous year, even more in 2025 and 2026.

"Similarly, in 2025, we will host 15 international congresses that we brought to our city and supported, and in 2026, we will host 3 congresses, including the International Federation of Ear, Nose and Throat Societies' international congress with 8,500 participants," said Avdagiç, adding that in 2025 and beyond, there are 7 international congresses that the ICVB is working on as candidates to be held in Istanbul, with a participant number ranging from 500 to 5,000.

Avdagiç stated that they provided serious support for Istanbul to be permanently among the top 10 in congress tourism with the "Intellectual Capital" and "Istanbul Tourism Index" projects.

Avdagiç noted that they started the Intellectual Capital Research Project in order to make the congress recruitment process in Istanbul more efficient, and reflected the following views on the subject:

"We have identified 54 of the most important 'intellectual capital' leaders who have the potential to bring large-scale international meetings to Istanbul. In the second phase we have started this year, we are contacting these leaders and continuing our lobbying activities to bring large-scale international congresses. As a result of our project, we aim to increase the number of our intellectual capital leaders to 70 and to bring large-scale important international congresses to Istanbul in the next 5 years."

"We aim to develop a comprehensive Tourism Index for Istanbul"

Avdagiç stated that with the Istanbul Tourism Index project, they aim to develop a comprehensive Tourism Index for Istanbul and create an important tool that will shape the city's tourism strategy and policies, and announced that a total of 23 international congresses, including congresses supported by ICVB, with a participant number between 100 and 2 thousand will be held in Istanbul in the second half of 2025.

According to the information provided, the prominent congresses include the Annual Meeting of the Association for the Study of Psychotherapy Integration, the North American Radiology Association Spotlight Course, the International Visual Methods Conference in June, the Federation of European Biochemical Societies Meeting in July, the Congress of the Association of European Planning Schools, the World Congress of Echocardiography and Related Techniques, the World Congress of Medical Law in August, the Annual Meeting of the European Society of Vascular Surgery, the Annual Meeting of the European Society of Neuroradiology in September, and the Annual International Congress of the European Society of Gynecological Endoscopy in October.