As we wrap up the year (and two particularly busy months!) it’s time to take a breather and take stock. In just three days at the IBTM, we’ve held nearly one hundred professional meetings and welcomed five fam trips bringing 144 eventprofs to Sitges, as part of a six-month period jam-packed with business and marketing activity. We then travelled to Madrid with the Catalunya Convention Bureau for the EMA’s Christmas party, which brought together over 50 members and offered an opportunity to strengthen our network and visibility in a key ecosystem for the MICE sector. In December, we attended Spain CB’s technical seminar and the final Break the ICE event of the year.
Meanwhile, Sitges CB members’ analysis of the first half of the year confirmed strong performance for Sitges: sustained growth, international return and an increasingly strong local MICE community.
We’re now looking to the future with Eventoplus and the key takeaways from the IBTM Trends 2025 Report, to understand what’s in store. The document notes that the industry is resilient, with growing confidence in the power of events as opportunities for human connection in an increasingly digital world. The sector is turning mere gatherings into transformative experiences that create real value both for participants and for organisations.
The report also highlights a widespread demographic shift: over 1.1 billion people are over the age of 60, and this figure will reach 1.4 billion by 2030. This is an excellent opportunity to create inclusive, accessible experiences tailored to a more diverse and demanding group. At the same time, the growing interest of private capital confirms that the MICE industry is currently an innovative, economically attractive sector. Indeed, IBTM has included an “Ignite” section this year to analyse this phenomenon.
That’s why we’re facing the future with confidence, in the knowledge that global trends are pointing towards events becoming more human, more inclusive, more original and more transformative.
Sitges, with a strong community and a well-prepared ecosystem, wants to continue playing an active role in this future, alongside you. We want 2026 to be a year of collaboration, of working together to drive new ideas and keep creating memorable experiences.
Sitges Loves Events, and so does the future.
