Europe’s event tourism spending surges driven by sports, expos, concerts

Sports and Expos: Key Drivers of Event-Related Tourism Spending

Sports and expositions (fairs and trade shows) accounted for 41.4% and 29.4% of event-related tourism spending respectively, according to data analysed.

Expos are the event category that recorded the most consistent growth in tourism spending in 2025 across all the European countries analysed, rising by 6.2 percentage points year on year, with growth reaching 9.1% in Belgium, 5.7% in the Netherlands, and 4.5% in Ireland. In Greece, Ireland, and Sweden, sports account for around 57% of all tourism spending related to events.

The data reveals four distinct scenarios for the growth of event-related tourism spending in Europe in 2025. The first includes countries where spending rises across almost all event categories—such as France (except for sports), the UK and Spain (excluding festivals). The second covers destinations where tourism spending around sports matches and exhibitions is increasing strongly despite declines in other categories, as seen in Austria, Greece, Ireland, and the Netherlands.

A third group, including Sweden and Switzerland, displays more mixed trends. Finally, Italy, Belgium, and Germany—broadly aligned with Europe’s overall performance—show a robust increase in MICE-related tourism spending, particularly in conferences and, above all, exhibitions.

Across the twelve European countries studied for this report, nearly nine in ten events held in 2025 were music concerts, professional conferences, and sports matches—though the distribution varies significantly by market and contributes to each destination’s strategic positioning.

Sports events dominate in Spain, Belgium, Sweden, and Greece, while concerts are particularly prominent in Germany, Ireland, and France. Conferences remain central in the UK and Italy. In the Netherlands, Austria, and Switzerland, sports and concerts together account for roughly two-thirds of all events.

“As events continue to grow across Europe, their true value lies in the wealth they create for local communities and their capacity to help redistribute tourism activity across territories and seasons. That is why destination event management should be closely aligned with the destination’s development and sustainability strategy” says Carlos Cendra, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Mabrian.

“To secure these benefits, destinations need more than historical surface-level metrics; they need predictive intelligence that reveals which events will generate meaningful impact. When grounded in robust, forward-looking data, event strategies become powerful tools for attracting the right audiences and investing in experiences that genuinely enhance local wellbeing and economic resilience, while appealing to key inbound markets” Cendra states.