The General Council meeting was chaired for the first time by the new mayor Ada Colau
Fira de Barcelona gets off to a very busy year with 39 trade shows and congresses in the first half of 2015
The Montjuïc and Gran Via Exhibition Centres have hosted 39 trade shows and congresses in the first half of the year, including major international events, in addition to Fira de Barcelona’s growing presence abroad. This highlights the intensive activity undertaken by the institution, which over the course of the year expects to hold more than 60 trade fairs and 50 corporate events, thus helping to boost the economy and generate employment, as demonstrated during today’s General Council meeting which also reacted very positively to the news that Barcelona is to continue as the Mobile World Capital.
The Council, chaired for the for the first time by the new Mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, highlighted the important economic and social role fulfilled by the institution and registered its satisfaction with Barcelona’s renewal as the Mobile World Capital until 2023, continuing to host the Mobile World Congress, the largest mobile communications meeting in the world held annually in the Gran Via and Montjuïc Exhibition Centres. The accounts for 2014 were also approved, a year which ended up generating income of 152.6 million euros, an increase of nearly 30% on 2013 and 32% more than 2012, a year which is more comparable due to the trade fair calendar. The EBIDTA was 19.8 million, very much higher than the 11 million recorded in the previous two years.
These are historic results which, as reiterated by Josep Lluis Bonet, Chairman of Fira de Barcelona’s Board, can be viewed as “exceptional”, being the result of a combination of various circumstances in 2014 such as improvements to the shows organized by Fira de Barcelona, the organization of large-scale international events and, above all, the considerable concentration of corporate pharmaceutical and technology congresses. Contributory factors also included the institution’s strategy to favour innovation in its trade shows, international expansion and the diversification of its activities, enlarging its portfolio of services.
Leading trade shows
The General Council also recognized 2015’s success by the fact that it significantly exceeded initial forecasts. During the first half of the year, Fira de Barcelona has hosted some large-scale trade shows and professional events – many of international renown – such as the Mobile World Congress, the Barcelona Motor Show, Hispack and Bta., Barcelona Bridal Week, Graphispag, Beyond Building Barcelona-Construmat, Tissue World, Denim Première Vision, Carbon Expo and Free From Food, as well as other corporate meetings in the technology sector such as Hewlett Packard’s ETSS Summer.
The calendar for the second half of the year also features important professional events such as Smart City Expo World Congress, Piscina & Wellness Barcelona, the Barcelona Boat Show, BcnRail, IBTM World and PharmaProcess. New events include the IoT Solutions World Congress in September organized by Fira de Barcelona, the first worldwide congress on industrial applications of the Internet of Things.
The trade show venues are also hosting significant medical congresses such as those organized by the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons, the European Society of Gastroenterology and the European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology, as well as technological events such as VMWorld Europe or those of Microsoft and SAP.
This year, Fira de Barcelona drive forward the international strategy it has been developing over recent years to strengthen its presence abroad and, above all, to support internationalization and generate new business opportunities for the companies that take part in its trade shows.
During the first half of 2015, Smart City Expo has already been held in Montreal and Kyoto, the Motor Show and Jewellery shows in Qatar, and Alimentaria in Mexico. Additionally, the institution has won the bid to manage, alongside the operator Elan Qatar, the Middle East’s new Exhibition and Conference Centre in Doha. An agreement has also been signed with the Cuban government through the Palco Business Group, which manages the country’s two trade fair venues, to define the planning and organization of specialist trade shows. This intensive activity will continue over the coming months in the same way as the institution’s commitment to innovation and knowledge and the generation of wealth and wellbeing.
Barcelona, 15 July 2015