In the future normal, one will have to arrive early for massive events like the Mobile World Congress (MWC). One will no longer be able to arrive just in time or expect that conferences have not yet started when running late. Basically, because everything seems to indicate that access to exhibition venues will require rapid coronavirus tests, as already announced by the organizers of the mobile fair, if it finally takes place this summer. The test itself does not take long, but one must add the 15 minutes of waiting to know if the result is positive or negative.
The Chamber of Commerce, with the support of Turisme de Barcelona and Fira de Barcelona, tested this Thursday on a small scale at a meeting in the Llotja de Mar how activity in this sector can be recovered, pointing out what the necessary tools for the resumption of congresses might be. The executive director of Integrated Systems Europe (ISE), Mike Blackman, one of the attendees, experienced it himself. ISE is the largest audiovisual fair in the world and was supposed to debut this 2021 in the Catalan capital, but, finally, it has been postponed until next year, given the uncertainty still caused by the pandemic.
Before entering the event at the Llotja, all attendees had to go through a process that lasted less than half an hour. First, at the street-level entrance, their temperature was taken with one of these thermometers that look like guns ---now it is no longer aimed at the forehead but at the wrist, visually less aggressive---. Afterwards, the organizers provided a new FFP2 mask and a personal bottle of hydroalcoholic gel.
Once these steps were completed, the key moment arrived, that of the antigen test, which was carried out in individual tents. The wait to receive the result via SMS was about 15 minutes. This ended up being the true entrance to the Llotja event, which had to be shown at the door of the room where the talks were held, once the initial process was finished. About 200 people participated in the Chamber's test, and all tested negative.
More than 1.7 billion in economic impact
The economic impact of the 1,733 congresses held in Barcelona in 2019 and their more than 600,000 attendees was 1,761.68 million euros, according to data from the Barcelona Convention Bureau (BCB), a Turisme de Barcelona program specialized in attracting this type of visitors. Before the pandemic, this sector generated a business volume in Catalonia of around 810 million euros annually and employed 5,311 workers. To these figures must be added the indirect impact it has on other sectors, such as transport, catering, and hospitality. Specifically, for every 100 euros allocated, 180 are produced for the economy as a whole.
All these figures have been highlighted during the event at the Chamber, which was attended by the corporation's president, Mònica Roca; the director of the BCB, Christoph Tessmar; Mike Blackmam (ISE); chef Nandu Jubany, and epidemiologist Oriol Mitjà. "We all use the taps at home, but few of us ask where the water that comes out of them comes from. Something similar happens with our sector. We all live from it, but we are not aware," Tessmar explained. "We want to stop being an invisible sector," he defended.
In 2019, 1,733 congresses were held in Barcelona, with more than 600,000 attendees and an economic impact of 1,762 million euros, according to data from the Barcelona Convention BureauFor all this, Camera, Turisme de Barcelona and Fira de Barcelona have demanded the resumption of congresses in Barcelona, in person and safely. This demand has materialized in a manifesto that, by now, has already been signed by more than 1,600 companies, entities, and professionals in the sector. The manifesto claims the need to establish an action plan that allows these events to be recovered, based on the use of antigen tests.