Italy’s meetings and events industry generated €13.2 billion in direct spending in 2025, highlighting the sector’s steady recovery and growing role in the country’s tourism economy.
According to the latest Italian Survey of Conferences and Events (OICE), the country hosted 365,789 meetings and events during the year. These attracted 28.6 million delegates and recorded more than 43.2 million attendances.
The findings were presented during the event, “The Value of the Meetings Industry: Interpreting the Future Through OICE Data,” held at the Confindustria Conference Centre in Rome.
The research, promoted by Federcongressi&eventi and carried out by the Graduate School of Economics and International Relations (ASERI) at Università Cattolica, shows that the sector recorded an average annual growth rate of 6.4% between 2022 and 2025.
Industry Adapts to Changing Event Trends
Despite ongoing economic and geopolitical uncertainty, Italy’s meetings industry has continued to expand after its post-pandemic recovery.
The report shows that organisers are increasingly embracing new event formats, fresh organisational models and non-traditional venues to create more engaging experiences.
Demand for unconventional event spaces has grown steadily over the past decade. Between 2014 and 2025, events held at these venues increased at an average annual rate of 6.6%, with growth accelerating to 12.5% per year after 2022.
Gabriella Gentile, President of Federcongressi&eventi, said the meetings industry plays an important role in supporting economic growth, promoting destinations throughout the year and strengthening Italy’s position as a global business events destination.
Companies Continue to Drive Demand
Corporate clients remained the largest customer group in 2025, accounting for 61.4% of all meetings and events.
Associations represented 24.4% of the market and continued to expand their share.
The report also highlighted changing event patterns. Local events increased from 47.2% in 2024 to 54.8% in 2025, while national events declined from 39.4% to 32.3%.
International events made up 12.9% of the total, slightly lower than the previous year’s 13.4%, but still well above the 9.8% recorded before the pandemic in 2019.
Northern Italy Remains the Leading Events Hub
Northern Italy continued to dominate the country’s meetings industry.
The region is home to 53.4% of Italy’s conference and event venues and hosted 59.1% of all meetings in 2025, marking a 1.8% increase over the previous year.
Central Italy accounted for 23.7% of events, while southern Italy hosted 10.9%. Italy’s islands represented 6.3% of the total.
Hotels with meeting facilities remained the most popular venues, hosting 76.6% of all events and welcoming more than half of all participants.
Conference centres and exhibition venues hosted only 2.3% of events but attracted 11.6% of participants and 15.4% of total attendance, underlining their importance for large international conferences and congresses.
Shorter Events, Bigger Audiences
The report also found that meetings are becoming shorter while attracting larger audiences.
Roberto Nelli, lecturer in marketing at Università Cattolica and scientific lead of the study, said Italy’s meetings industry has entered a more stable phase following the post-pandemic recovery.
He noted that international events have increased, meeting durations have become shorter, and average attendance has grown compared with 2019.
Events lasting more than one day generated around 30 million attendances in 2025, representing 10.4% of all overnight hotel stays in Italy.
Average spending per participant reached €312, up 3.7% compared with 2024.
The report also found that conference venues continue to invest heavily in staff training and facility upgrades, with skilled professionals and modern venues seen as essential to keeping Italy competitive in the global meetings industry.
