PRESS RELEASE
Brussels, 10 June 2015
Brussels moves up significantly in the international meetings rankings according to the
UIA
According to the new UIA (Union of International Associations) report, Brussels ranks second in the
world and first in Europe as a venue for international meetings. With 787 meetings in 2014, the
European capital has shown remarkable growth of 80% compared with 2013.
Brussels even surpasses Singapore to lead the world in meetings of international associations and
organisations with more than 50 participants.
Thanks to this huge jump, Brussels on its own now represents 7.3% of the global market, according to
the UIA’s independent research institute. The Belgian capital ranks just behind Singapore (850) and
well ahead of Vienna (396) and Paris (325), its main European competitors.
These stellar results further solidify the city’s reputation and credibility as a meeting venue with
international association leaders.
For one thing, Brussels enjoys undeniable advantages: geographic location, the presence of NATO,
the European Union, and lobbyists, not to mention customized infrastructure. It’s no surprise that
more than 2,000 international associations have established their main offices in Brussels, which
represents the highest such concentration in the world.
For another, the visit.brussels Convention Bureau tends to encourage this trend by offering a wide
array of services to ensure that conferences, meetings, and events go off without a hitch.
Despite ever more challenging competition in the meetings industry, Brussels keeps riding high and
posting better results year after year.
“Since the sixth state reform and the regionalisation of tourism, the Region has a wonderful
opportunity to take over the development of this sector of international associations, which is one of
the major assets of our destination. Brussels’ international position in this sector, which is constantly
reinforced, clearly benefits the Region a great deal, whether these benefits are related to the
economy, employment or its image and tourism .A situation that, without any doubt, provides a boost
to quality infrastructure such as Square, Brussels Meeting Centre, the former Palais de Congrès, and
which will also be enhanced by the NEO project and its congress centre, which can accommodate
5,000 people.”
Rudi Vervoort, Minister-President of the Government of the Brussels-Capital Region
Thanks to Brussels’ impressive growth, Belgium is becoming, at the same time, the second ranked
country in the world for association meetings, by moving up three notches in the standings. It ranks
just behind the USA and ahead of Singapore, France and Austria.
Press Contact
Hervé Bosquet: h.bosquet@visitbrussels.be - +32 475 64 49 96