Seoul Named World's Best MICE City for 11 Consecutive Years

Selected as "Best MICE City" by Readers of U.S. Global Traveler
Successful Hosting of Major International Conferences and Events This Year

Seoul has been selected as the "Best MICE City" for the 11th consecutive year in a vote by a U.S. tourism media outlet.

On December 1, the city announced that it had been named the Best MICE City at the "2025 Global Traveler Readers' Choice Awards." Global Traveler is a premium U.S. business tourism publication that annually selects the best airlines, hotels, and tourism services in each category through reader voting. Notably, 43% of its readers are MICE planners or organizers, indicating a high level of expertise.

2025 Best MICE City Seoul Award Trophy. Provided by Seoul City

This year, Seoul successfully hosted major international conferences and events such as the World Congress of Economists, Korea Derma 2025, and Hyrox Seoul. In September, the city also provided robust support for the incentive tour of over 3,000 employees from World System Builder (WSB), a U.S.-based company.

Additionally, Seoul has received several major tourism and MICE awards this year, including "Best Asian Leisure City" at the Leisure Lifestyle Awards and "The Most Beloved City by Global Millennials & Gen Z" at the U.S. Trazy Awards.

The city and the Seoul Tourism Organization attributed Seoul's emergence as a global MICE city to its branding as a "bleisure destination" that combines business and leisure, setting it apart from other cities. "Bleisure" is a portmanteau of business and leisure, referring to the travel trend of adding personal leisure activities to business trips.

Seoul also plans to actively expand its MICE city infrastructure. Following the opening of COEX Magok last year and the launch of the "Seoul MICE Plaza" in October this year, the city intends to establish three major MICE hubs by 2032 in the Jamsil Sports Complex and the northern area of Seoul Station, thereby completing its global MICE city infrastructure.

Gil Giyeon, CEO of the Seoul Tourism Organization, stated, "Over the past decade, the foundation has continuously promoted public-private cooperation and innovative marketing to develop Seoul into a world-class MICE city. This 11-year consecutive win is international recognition of those efforts."

Gu Jongwon, Director of Tourism and Sports at Seoul Metropolitan Government, said, "Amid the global boom of K-content, Seoul is gaining attention as a must-visit city, and its appeal as a MICE destination is also rising. We will continue to actively foster and support the MICE industry to establish Seoul as a global business hub."