Gastronomy, local tourism and conferences for professionals along with other attractions
B-Travel 2020 presents the best destinations and offers in experience-based tourism
B-Travel, Fira Barcelona’s trade show specialising in experience-based tourism, will be presenting a wide range of the best local and international tourism destinations in an edition that will involve the participation of all the Spanish autonomous communities and more than 40 countries represented in Spain, highlighting some Latin American countries such as Brazil and Bolivia, which are participating for the first time with an official delegation.
Organised by Fira Barcelona, B-Travel, which will take place from 27th to 29th March at the Montjuïc venue, will offer over 100 offers, prizes and trips, and over 100 culinary tasting sessions at B-Delicious, the event’s world gastronomy festival.
The event will bring together more than 200 direct exhibitors across 5,000 net square metres of space, which will allow all visitors to discover the best offer of experiential tourism currently available.
Thus, in addition to the presence of all the national destinations and delegations of 40 countries and regions of the world represented in Spain, travel agencies, hotels, cruise operators, transport companies and tourist services companies will also participate in the largest tourist event for end consumers. Renowned companies in the tourism industry such as Renfe and Vueling will present their latest offers, services, promotions and new features.
The president of B-Travel, Martí Sarrate, points out that “in addition to trying to provide an attractive offer for potential travellers with a representative sample of the best national and international destinations, B-Travel aims to respond to the concerns of professionals with actions designed exclusively for them.” Sarrate adds that “at B-Travel the emphasis will be on promoting sustainable and responsible tourism and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals will be made known.”
Local Tourism and Latin America
Among the local destinations, as well as the presence of all the tourism boards of the four Catalan provinces and the diffusion of the ‘Sports Tourism Year’ promoted by the Government of Catalonia; Andalusia, the Balearic Islands, Castile and León, the Canary Islands, Galicia and Navarre will also be highlighted whereas, on an international level, the main new feature is the participation, for the first time, of Brazil and Bolivia. Other international destinations such as Cape Verde, Iceland, Cuba and the Dominican Republic are part of the B-Travel 2020 offer, as well as other popular countries such as Croatia, France, Portugal and Morocco.
The director of the event, Marta Serra, states that “at this year’s trade show, B-Travel seeks to bring the large offer of local tourism and Latin America destinations to the visitor in a particularly complicated time for the industry.” Serra points out that “additionally, B-Travel is set up as a huge travel agency to give visitors the opportunity to plan their summer holidays, the great season for tourism.”
B-Delicious: a Journey of Tastes
One of the event´s great attractions will be B-Delicious, the food and wine space where over 100 specialities from different cultures around the world can be tasted, from those found close to home and others from further away. Thus, visitors will be able to try traditional Catalan and Spanish dishes as well as exotic cuisine such as Caribbean, South African, American Cajun, as well as a special mention to Mexican and Brazilian food.
On 28th March, B-Delicious will include the presence of the Mexican chef Paco Méndez, from the one Michelin star restaurant ‘Hoja Santa’ in Barcelona; the presentation for the first time of the map of the 100 Mexican restaurants in the city and the recreation of an authentic ‘Altar of the Dead’, during which there will be a performance by a Mariachi group. Also participating on the 29th will be Brazilian chef Rafael Vertamatti, from the Rafael Bar Restaurante, who will showcase the great Amazonian gastronomic heritage with a wide diversity of edible river fish and unusual sweet fruits.
Moreover, with the aim of increasing commercial transactions within the framework of B-Travel, the trade show presents more than 100 special offers and discounts through B-Travel Passport, which visitors must fill out after passing a series of tests organised by the exhibitors that give them the opportunity of participating in a draw with prizes and discounts on trips valued at more than 6,000 euros. In this way, visitors will be able to choose trips to the United States, Indonesia, hotel nights, safaris, experiential weekends, international flights and discounts, among others.
Professionals and the End Consumer
Following the line initiated four years ago, once again, B-Travel has a programme of B2B activities at B-Travel Professional Meetings, the B-Travel Job Market Place and the B-Industrial themed days to promote business opportunities within the framework of the trade show.
Additionally, and to make the visit to the trade show more attractive, all kinds of activities have been organised for end consumers. On centre stage, the B-Travel Experience Area, there will be musical performances and exhibitions of dances from various countries. The B-Travel Cinema will also be back, showing the exhibitor’s documentaries and travel videos.
In partnership with Vueling, B-Travel will hold casting auditions to choose two people who will travel for free to ten destinations which this company flies to. To encourage the fair’s visitors to participate, the travellers who have taken part in this promotion from 14th February to 9th March will describe their experiences, visiting Las Palmas, Málaga, Marrakech, Athens, Lisbon, Paris, Rome, Amsterdam, Prague and London.
B-Travel has designed the visit to the trade show around the interests of the traveller, which is why the experiences are sectioned into various interests: B-Delicious (food and wine experiences); B-Happy (family, friends and wellness trips), B-Culture (art, history and culture), B-Special (shopping, new luxury, etc.), B-Adventure (sport and adventure) and B-Industrial (routes in areas with a broad historical and industrial heritage).