Porto stands out in the attraction of events and congresses and rises to the World top 20

The most renowned International Congress and Conventions Association (ICCA) places Porto in the Top 15 European and Top 20 worldwide in the ranking that annually, presents the cities that stand out as the most wanted destinations to host congresses, conferences, international meetings, and events.

This distinction also confirms that the city was one of those that best dealt with the acute period of pandemic and that best prepared itself for the touristic recovery.

In 2021, the ICCA Destination Performance Index consecrated Porto as the 14th destination in Europe and the 16th worldwide in the business tourism sector, up from the 39th position in the world ranking in 2019, before the health crisis (in 2020 a comparative ranking was not published due to the effects of the pandemic, which affected the sector worldwide). The evaluators justified the rise of the destination with the quick response by all the stakeholders facing the constraints caused by Covid-19, the strong commitment to digitalization, the reinforcement in communication, the effort to identify potential events and the resilience plan of Turismo do Porto e Norte, aimed at holding or rescheduling events.

“This recognition proves the attractiveness of the city of Porto which, year after year, has been, steadily strengthening, its external positioning as a business tourism destination, competing with other European and world reference cities, with which congratulates Porto City Hall”, according to the councilor for Tourism and Internationalization, Catarina Santos Cunha. It should be remembered that the so-called “meeting industry” has been one of the strategic priorities defined by the Municipality of Porto and by Turismo do Porto e Norte.

As a result of this commitment, for the current year, the destination Porto and North have already captured more than a hundred events that, in total, will bring more than 32 thousand people to the region.