More events, more attendees: Berlin is consolidating its position as a leading meeting destination

Berlin, 7 July 2026 Berlin is consolidating its position as Germany’s leading conference and events hub: in 2025, 13.7 million people attended around 87,000 events in the capital. This is shown by statistics published today by visitBerlin. The number of participants rose by six per cent compared with the previous year, whilst the number of events increased by 0.7 per cent.

Franziska Giffey, Senator for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises: “Berlin is Germany’s leading meeting and conference destination – last year alone, around 10 million national and international guests from the worlds of business, science and the creative industries came together for professional purposes. This success is a key driver for our city: it generates added value in the hotel and catering sectors, in transport services, retail and the events industry, and secures many jobs in Berlin. Around one in ten jobs depends on the tourism and conference sector. To ensure that Berlin remains the number one conference destination in the future, we are making targeted investments in modern infrastructure and sustainable formats: through the Conference Fund for Sustainable Conferences, new exhibition facilities such as dock9, the revitalisation of the ICC – and with strong private partners. In this way, we are preparing Berlin for the next generation of conferences and international events.”

Berlin is particularly strong when it comes to congresses, conferences, seminars and similar professional events: in 2025, 64,690 such events (+6 per cent compared with 2024) took place, attracting 10 million participants (+10 per cent compared with 2024). These events account for 74.5 per cent of Berlin’s events market, exceeding the national average of 68 per cent. This shows that Berlin is not only a city of culture, concerts and festivals, but also a key venue for congresses, conferences and professional exchanges. Around 25 per cent of Berlin’s events market is made up of cultural and sporting events, concerts, festivities, banquets and anniversaries.

Berlin is Germany’s most international meeting destination

Dr Jürgen Amann, Managing Director of visitBerlin: “In 2025, one in five event attendees came to Berlin from abroad; for business events, the figure was as high as one in four. This international character is our strength: Berlin brings people from all over the world together and stands for personal encounters across borders. This makes our city one of Europe’s leading meeting destinations and a global hub for business, science and the creative industries.”

In 2025, international events accounted for 23 per cent of all events in Berlin; the national average was 9.5 per cent. The city’s international appeal is also evident in its participants: 2.6 million (20 per cent) travelled from abroad. For business events, the proportion of international participants was as high as 23 per cent. The most important international source markets for Berlin were North America (14 per cent), the United Kingdom (13.5 per cent) and France (9 per cent).

Key sectors: creative industries, science and medicine

The strongest sectors in Berlin’s conference and events market were ICT, media and the creative industries (21 per cent), science and research (14 per cent), and health and medicine (13 per cent).  This sectoral structure underlines Berlin’s importance as a hub for innovation, research and the creative industries.

Berlin is also the German market leader for large-scale events. The proportion of events with more than 1,000 attendees stood at 3.6 per cent, which is above the national average of 2 per cent. At the same time, smaller and medium-sized events contribute to the stability of the Berlin market: just under two-thirds of congresses, conferences and seminars took place with up to 100 participants and are predominantly held in conference hotels and event venues.

Estrel and Messe Berlin are creating new venues for major events

To meet the demand for large-scale events, additional capacity is being created in Berlin. The Estrel, for example, is planning a significant expansion: a further event hall is to be built alongside the Estrel Tower. Ute Jacobs, Managing Director, Estrel Berlin: “With the Estrel Tower, we are setting new standards for Berlin as an events destination. As the capital’s first skyscraper, featuring 522 additional hotel rooms and suites as well as innovative event spaces, we are appealing to new target groups. Together with the planned event arena for up to 10,000 guests, we are creating additional capacity, strengthening Berlin’s competitiveness in the international MICE market and making a sustainable contribution to ensuring that the capital can further expand its leading position as Germany’s and Europe’s premier meeting destination.”

With dock9, a further conference hall capable of accommodating up to 5,000 people is also set to be built on the Messe Berlin site by 2028. “Berlin is growing as an international meeting destination. With dock9, we are creating the capacity to support this growth in the long term,” says Dr Mario Tobias, Chairman of the Executive Board of Messe Berlin. “The new multifunctional conference hall expands our offering for large conferences, corporate events and international gatherings, and sustainably strengthens Berlin’s competitiveness as a trade fair and conference venue. dock9 represents an investment by Messe Berlin in Berlin’s future as a global hub for business, science and innovation.”

Congress Fund and Berlin Event Board strengthen Berlin as a venue

On 2 July this year, the new funding period for the Berlin Congress Fund for Sustainable Conferences began. The programme, run by the Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises, supports specialist events in Berlin that meet defined sustainability criteria; IBB Business Team GmbH has been commissioned to administer the scheme. In this way, Berlin is creating a reliable framework for sustainable business events and strengthening its position as a responsible meeting destination. These framework conditions also include close cooperation between the key players in the city: the Berlin Event Board, initiated by visitBerlin, which brings together the strengths of the industry, the business sector and the public administration and drives forward the further development of Berlin as an events and conference destination.

Flagship events in 2026 and 2027

The calendar of events for the coming months underlines Berlin’s international significance as a leading conference destination: June saw several major events take place, including SuperReturn International and the ILA. The WeAreDevelopers World Congress follows in July. September is dominated by leading global trade fairs such as IFA and InnoTrans, before international medical congresses take centre stage in October with the World Health Summit and the German Congress for Orthopaedics and Trauma Surgery. In November, the focus shifts to further high-profile events, including Neuroweek (featuring the Congress of the German Society of Neurology) and the Berlin Freedom Conference, whilst December brings the year to a close with the EHC26 European Headache Congress.

The calendar for 2027 is already packed: the World Money Fair kicks off in January, followed by re:publica in May. A particular success is the securing of the EULAR Congress in June, which once again positions Berlin as a venue for leading medical congresses. Later in the year, the programme includes, amongst others, the World Conference on Veterinary Parasitology in August and the Congress of the German Ophthalmological Society in October.