MEETEX 2026 confirmed interest in Croatia as a top MICE destination
From March 17 to 19, 2026, Zagreb once again was one of the more important European meeting places for the business events industry. At this year’s edition of MEETEX, a specialized B2B event dedicated to the congress, event and incentive industry, Croatian exhibitors met with international event organizers through pre-arranged business meetings, but also through a series of informal contacts that in this industry often decide future collaborations. It is a format that has already built a recognizable position in Croatian tourism because it enables domestic destinations, hotels, agencies and congress stakeholders direct access to the people who decide where corporate gatherings, conferences, incentive trips and professional meetings will be held.
This year’s edition was held at Zagreb’s The Westin hotel, and the official program was scheduled through the arrival day on March 17 and two working days, March 18 and 19, during which B2B meetings, presentations and networking dominated. This year as well, the organizers emphasized that the essence of the event is to connect international demand with Croatian supply in one place and in a short time create as many concrete business contacts as possible. The official MEETEX website highlights that the event brings together international buyers and leading Croatian MICE suppliers and creates space for long-term cooperation and growth within the business meetings industry.
Why MEETEX is important for Croatian tourism
The importance of such meetings goes beyond a few days of business programming. Business and congress tourism is counted among the most valuable tourism segments because guests as a rule spend more, travel outside the peak summer season, use a more complex chain of services and directly fill hotels, congress venues, transport, hospitality and a range of other activities. That is precisely why the MICE segment is viewed as one of the key tools for developing year-round tourism, more even occupancy of capacities and raising the overall quality of the offer.
This was also emphasized by Minister of Tourism and Sport Tonči Glavina, who described MEETEX as an important instrument for positioning Croatia as a competitive and increasingly recognizable destination for business and congress tourism. In his assessment, the continuous growth of interest, the number of participants and business contacts shows that such events have a strong effect on connecting domestic supply with global markets and opening new opportunities for the tourism sector. Such an emphasis is not accidental: Croatia has for years been seeking to strengthen the segment that brings higher added value, and business events precisely connect tourism, service activities, transport, creative industries and the local economy.
For Zagreb, but also for other Croatian destinations presented to buyers, MEETEX has added value. The host city at such an event does not function only as a backdrop, but as a demonstration space of its own infrastructure, accessibility, hotel capacity, logistics and the overall impression it leaves on organizers. When international buyers spend several days in a city, use hotels, tour locations and talk with hosts, the destination is no longer just a brochure or presentation, but a first-hand experience. This is precisely one of the reasons why such meetings are often more effective than traditional advertising.
International buyers arrived from five continents
Official announcements by the organizers confirm that hosted buyers and professionals from Europe, North America, South America, Asia and Australia were arriving in Zagreb, giving MEETEX 2026 a truly global dimension. The very fact that interest is coming not only from the closer European environment, but also from more distant markets, is an important message for the Croatian meetings industry. It shows that Croatia is increasingly viewed less as a seasonal leisure destination and more as a place that can respond to the complex demands of international business events.
Among the hosted buyers were organizers of corporate events, conferences, business meetings and incentive travel, but also representatives of international associations. The official information specifically mentions the International Water Association, a globally networked organization that through its program brings together professional events and conferences in the field of water and sustainability, as well as the British Silver Marketing Association, a professional organization focused on the senior market and business content connected with that demographic group. Such a participant profile shows that MEETEX does not target only general corporate demand, but also specialized niches in which organizers look for destinations with a clear identity, professional infrastructure and reliable partners on the ground.
It is precisely the statement by Steve Huxham, director of the Silver Marketing Association, that well describes what organizers want to achieve. He pointed out that before arriving he did not actually know Croatia and that the experience opened a new perspective for him, especially through getting to know the diversity of destinations beyond the best-known postcard points such as Dubrovnik. He particularly highlighted his interest in Zagorje and Međimurje, as well as the desire to experience Zagreb further. In that sentence lies perhaps the most important message for Croatian tourism: when an international event organizer begins to view the country beyond a few of the most exposed destinations, space opens for stronger inclusion of continental regions and content that can attract gatherings, incentive programs and professional meetings throughout the year.
The model of pre-arranged meetings remains the core of the event
MEETEX is by its structure a strictly business-oriented event. On the official exhibitor pages, the organizers state that participation includes at least 25 pre-scheduled one-to-one meetings with hosted buyers, or ten for certain categories of service providers and special venues. Such a system is important because it gives exhibitors concrete value and a measurable return on time and investment. Instead of relying on chance meetings, participants receive a schedule of conversations with people who previously expressed interest and who come with a clear business objective.
In practice, this means that Croatian hotels, congress centers, DMC agencies, tourist boards, event organizers and special event venues do not present their offer abstractly, but adapt it to the profile of the buyer with whom they sit down at the table. One conversation may be focused on a large international conference, another on a corporate incentive program, a third on a specialized smaller-format gathering seeking an authentic destination experience. It is precisely this precision that is why similar B2B formats in the international industry still carry great weight, despite the development of digital tools, virtual meetings and online presentations.
For Croatia, it is also important that through one such event not only accommodation or hall rental is sold, but the entire destination package. Buyers assess connectivity, accessibility, safety, the quality of food and beverages, excursion possibilities, the authenticity of the local experience, the expertise of partners and the overall impression of the country as host. That is why an event such as MEETEX works on multiple levels: it simultaneously presents infrastructure, the country brand and the ability of the domestic industry to respond to the demands of the modern international market.
Message of the year: from B2B toward the H2H approach
One of the most striking messages of this year’s edition related to the so-called human dimension of business meetings. In his welcome address, MEETEX director Adem Braco Suljić said that, although it is a B2B event, in reality relationships always first begin between people, that is, at the H2H level, human to human. In an industry in which people often talk about figures, leads, conversions and scheduled meetings, that message is not merely an appropriate phrase. It reminds us that trust, which is crucial for organizing demanding international events, is still built through personal contact, credibility and the experience of mutual cooperation.
Such an approach comes particularly to the fore at a time when technology is strongly changing the way events are planned and sold. Digital platforms can speed up communication, simplify registrations and match supply and demand more precisely, but they still cannot replace the kind of impression that is created during a face-to-face conversation, a destination site visit or an informal meeting after the official program. In that sense, MEETEX follows a broader trend in the business events industry: technology remains an important tool, but the human relationship remains the foundation of the decision.
This is especially important for small and medium-sized destinations, of which Croatia has many. They cannot always compete in terms of the scale of congress infrastructure or the number of airline connections like the largest European hubs, but they can offer authenticity, adaptability, a sense of hospitality and a more personal approach. That is precisely why the H2H message is strategically useful for Croatia: it helps ensure that the country’s competitive advantages are not reduced only to capacities, but also to the quality of the experience.
Participant experience as a new measure of success
One of the key program moments was a lecture by Dr. Rob Davidson, one of the best-known international experts in the congress and meetings industry and a long-time partner and friend of MEETEX and the Croatian Association of Congress Tourism Professionals. In Zagreb he spoke about participant experience and the ways in which organizers can improve it, and his central message was that the experience does not begin with arrival at the event nor end with departure home.
That approach is becoming increasingly important in the industry today. The participant journey, as leading experts describe it, begins already with the first visit to the event website, the first email, the registration method and the tone of communication that the organizer establishes with the guest. It continues through travel, accommodation, on-site navigation, the quality of content, the rhythm of the program, networking opportunities and the way the participant feels during the stay. It does not end even after the event closes, because the impression remains through follow-up communication, content sharing, further business contacts and the participant’s willingness to return.
For Croatian destinations and companies, this is an important lesson. Competition on the international business events market is no longer conducted only through price and the square footage of halls, but also through the holistic design of the experience. Organizers increasingly look for destinations that can combine functionality and emotional value, professionalism and authenticity, efficiency and experience. In this, Croatia, precisely because of the diversity of spaces and relative compactness, can have a very concrete advantage if it manages to consistently deliver quality at all contact points.
Social responsibility as part of the events industry
This year’s edition also additionally emphasized the broader social framework of business meetings. That message was strengthened by cooperation with the association CRVENI NOSOVI klaunovidoktori, an organization that in Croatia provides psychosocial support to children in hospitals, older persons and other groups in difficult life situations. On the association’s official website it is stated that they operate in dozens of hospitals, homes and institutions and that through humor and direct contact they seek to restore a sense of joy, optimism and human closeness to those who need it most.
The association’s representative Maja Rusan brought closer to participants the idea that decisions in the events industry can also have a broader impact on the community. This is an important signal at a time when business events are increasingly expected not to be just a sales platform, but also a space in which sustainability, inclusiveness and responsibility toward society are promoted. In the international MICE industry, the topic of event legacy has already been very present for years: the question of what a congress, conference or business gathering leaves to the destination after the stage lights go out is being asked increasingly often.
In that context, MEETEX sent the message that business tourism is not a closed world of numbers and contracts, but a sector that can also have social value. Such an approach fits well with modern trends, especially among international organizers who increasingly seek partners and destinations whose operations are not reduced only to logistics, but also show a broader understanding of the community in which they operate.
What Zagreb and Croatia gain from this format
For Zagreb, the benefit is multiple. As host, the city additionally confirms its status as the main Croatian center for international business events. This does not arise only from the fact that it has the greatest concentration of congress hotels, halls and transport connectivity in the country, but also from its ability to serve as an entry point to other Croatian regions. A buyer who comes to Zagreb for several days can also get to know the broader national offer, which this year was visible through interest in continental destinations such as Hrvatsko zagorje and Međimurje.
For the rest of Croatia, MEETEX has the effect of multiplying visibility. When different parts of the country, from urban centers to smaller and specific destinations, are presented to international organizers in one place, the space for dispersion of tourism demand expands. This is particularly important in the context of the Croatian strategy of strengthening year-round tourism and reducing excessive dependence on the peak of the summer season. Business events, conferences and incentive travel are naturally distributed through spring, autumn and part of winter, and thus can significantly contribute to more stable use of capacities and revenues outside the main tourism wave.
The economic effect is also broader than tourism alone. Business guests use accommodation and hospitality, but also transport, technical production, event services, marketing, printing and digital services, guided tours, cultural content and excursion programs. When one larger international gathering is successfully held, the benefit spills over to a range of sectors. That is precisely why the MICE industry in many countries is viewed as a tool of economic development, and not only as a niche within tourism.
Croatia is profiling itself ever more clearly beyond classic seasonality
MEETEX 2026 showed that Croatia on the international market wants to build an identity that goes beyond sun and sea. Such positioning is neither simple nor quick, because competition in Europe is strong, and many destinations have been investing in congress capacities, convention bureaus and international promotion for decades. Still, Croatia has several advantages that are becoming ever more visible: it is geographically relatively close to large European source markets, it offers safety and diversity of spaces, and alongside the coast and well-known cities it also has a range of less exposed continental locations that can offer a different type of experience.
That is precisely why it is important that at MEETEX international buyers had the opportunity to see the broader picture of the country. In the business events industry, decisions are not made only according to the impressiveness of one photograph or one hotel, but according to the ability of a destination to deliver the whole: from the first communication to the on-site experience. If Croatia remains reliable and professional in that chain, events such as MEETEX can become one of the main generators of new business in the segment that brings more stable and higher-quality tourism revenues.
MEETEX 2026 therefore was not just another professional gathering closed within the industry. It was also a kind of test of the perception of Croatia on the global business events market, and the results show that interest exists and that the space for growth is not exhausted. For Zagreb, this is confirmation of the status of a regional business center, for continental and coastal destinations an opportunity to expand visibility, and for Croatian tourism a message that value is built not only by the number of arrivals but also by quality, added value and the ability to bring together people, ideas and concrete business in one place.
Sources:- Croatian National Tourist Board – official news on the results and messages of MEETEX 2026 (link)- MEETEX – official event website with a description of the summit format and goals (link)- MEETEX – official event program from March 17 to 19, 2026 at The Westin Zagreb hotel (link)- MEETEX – announcement of the arrival of hosted buyers and professionals from five continents to Zagreb (link)- MEETEX – information for hosted buyers and a description of the international reach of the event (link)- MEETEX – information for exhibitors on pre-arranged B2B meetings and the participation model (link)- Croatian Association of Congress Tourism Professionals – information that the association is a co-organizer of MEETEX (link)- CRVENI NOSOVI klaunovidoktori – official data on the association’s work and field of activity (link)- International Water Association – official overview of the organization’s international events and congresses (link)- Silver Marketing Association – official information about the organization and its activities (link)
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