PRIDE · WORLDPRIDE 2030

Bangkok or Barcelona? WorldPride 2030 race reaches Phuket this week

A GAY Mafia newsroom · 28 October 2026

InterPride's General Meeting and World Conference, held in Asia for the first time, runs 29 October–1 November in Phuket, where the two finalists for WorldPride 2030 make their final pitch. When the winner will be announced is less clear.

The contest to host WorldPride 2030 moves to Phuket this week, where Bangkok and Barcelona, the two remaining bidders, face InterPride's member organisations at the network's General Meeting and World Conference, 29 October to 1 November, with a pre-conference day on 28 October. It is the first time the gathering has been held in Asia, with Phuket Pride, FOR-SOGI and Bangkok Pride as local hosts, according to InterPride.

InterPride's WorldPride page states that bidding for 2030 "is now closed" and lists the two candidates: Bangkok Pride, under the theme "Until All of Us Are Free" with a proposed 14-day programme, and Pride Barcelona, with the motto "Let's Think, Let's Answer, Let's Change". The next hosts already confirmed are Cape Town for WorldPride 2028 and, on the European circuit, Turin for EuroPride 2027.

Two very different pitches

Bangkok became the first Thai bid to get past the opening round in March, when London was also still in the running, as Nation Thailand reported. Led by Bangkok Pride founder Ann Chumaporn, the campaign pairs creative culture with using the event to push for lasting legal change on equality, according to the same paper. The Thai delegation plans to "formally present its bid" during the Phuket meeting, The Thaiger reported on 22 October, adding that local hospitality staff began training for the conference on 21 October.

Barcelona's bid is led by Pride Barcelona and backed by Barcelona City Council, the Catalan government and Spain's Ministry of Equality, according to the city council. Its hook is the calendar: 2030 marks 25 years since Spain legalised same-sex marriage. "Barcelona and Catalonia are fully prepared to host WorldPride 2030," Catalonia's equality minister Eva Menor said in August, as quoted by EFE via Infobae.

When do we find out?

That depends on whom you ask. Barcelona City Council wrote that the host "will be chosen at the InterPride Annual General Meeting in 2026", and Spanish outlet Gayles.tv said the decision would be announced in Phuket. EFE reported that InterPride would assess both bids in Phuket but announce the result in mid-November, while Nation Thailand wrote in August that the host city was "scheduled to be selected and announced in January 2027". InterPride has not published a date for the announcement.

Meanwhile in Europe

The European calendar is already filling up. At the European Pride Organisers Association's annual meeting in Magdeburg on 10 October, members awarded EuroPride 2029 to Dresden. Turin hosts in 2027, and the West of Ireland follows in 2028, with the parade in Limerick on 12 August 2028, the organisers say. We will report the 2030 decision once InterPride confirms it.