Fira de Barcelona captures the Vitafoods show, which until now was held in Geneva

Fira de Barcelona continues to accumulate good news in attracting international reference trade shows in the professional field. After The New Barcelona Post announced in August the arrival in the Catalan capital of the world's largest casino sector fair (ICE) and also the Labelexpo Europe show, the largest fair in the packaging printing sector, an agreement has now been announced to bring to Barcelona the Vitafoods Europe event, considered the leading show in the nutraceutical industry.

This is a fair that until now was held in Geneva and that will occupy 80,000 square meters in the Gran Via exhibition center starting in the spring of 2025. According to Fira de Barcelona, Vitafoods Europe annually brings together more than 1,000 companies and 22,000 visitors from more than 160 countries and has chosen Barcelona to boost its growth and consolidate itself as the reference meeting for professionals in the nutraceutical sector and healthy nutritional supplements of natural origin.

Annual in nature, Vitafoods Europe will hold its last edition in Geneva, a city that has been its headquarters since 1998, next May 2024. As is usual in this type of professional shows, in addition to the exhibition part, Vitafoods includes a congress. The fair showcases the latest innovations, ingredients, products and trends in the field of functional foods, dietary supplements, sports nutrition and other products related to health and well-being.

"Barcelona has been selected after an exhaustive analysis and listening to both our exhibitors and visitors. Barcelona is not only a key European market for nutraceuticals, but it also has the right combination of architecture, culture and vibrant atmosphere to combine with the lively spirit of our community. Likewise, thanks to the robust infrastructure offered by both the city and Fira de Barcelona, this is only the next step in a long and exciting future for Vitafoods Europe," highlighted Natasha Berrow, executive vice president of the food area of the organizing company, Informa Markets.

For his part, Constantí Serrallonga, general director of Fira de Barcelona emphasizes that Vitafoods will allow to reinforce the positioning of the fair institution as an international benchmark in the food sector, since this fair joins other shows such as Alimentaria, Seafood, Alimentaria Foodtech, Gastronòmic Fòrum and Barcelona Wine Week. "We are proud that a world-leading event like Vitafoods Europe has chosen Barcelona as its new venue, which reinforces our role as a fair attraction hub at an international level and enhances the city's positioning as a capital of innovation in the food industry," Serrallonga considered.

Like Vitafoods Europe, the shows Labelexpo Europe and International Casino Exhibition (ICE) will also arrive in Barcelona in 2025. Las three fairs will bring more than 100,000 visitors to the city jointly, adding to the significant volumes of international attendees expected by the rest of the fairs that are already scheduled, among which the MWC or the ISE stand out. For the hotel sector of the Catalan capital, the arrival of new fairs is key to advancing in the objective of prioritizing from now on the quality of tourists above quantity. With occupancy rates exceeding 80% so far this year and with nearly 19 million annual overnight stays, el Gremi d'Hotels considers that Barcelona "has entered a phase of maturity" and that now it is time to bet on a high value-added visitor to the detriment of the low-cost tourist.

Vitafoods Europe will arrive in Barcelona in the spring of 2025, but before that, the gaming and casino sector fair, ICE, will take place from January 20 to 22 of that year. The organization has already reserved 40,000 hotel nights for that week, in which it expects 45,000 visitors from 150 countries. The Catalan capital has signed a contract with the organization for the period 2025-2029, prevailing over the candidacies of London (the city where it has been held until now), Paris, and Madrid.

For its part, Labelexpo Europe, a biennial event, will land in Barcelona from Brussels in autumn 2025, with the forecast of bringing together 40,000 visitors from 140 countries and more than 500 companies from the packaging and folding carton sector, as well as label printers. Labelexpo is the second major fair that Fira de Barcelona has snatched from Brussels in a short time, since in 2022 the Seafood show, a world leader in seafood products, also moved from the Belgian capital to Barcelona. Likewise, in 2021 the largest fair dedicated to audiovisual technology, ISE, arrived at the Gran Via venue, in this case from Amsterdam. This year, Barcelona has also debuted as the venue for Shop Talk Europe, a show focused on the retail sector that until now was held in London.

With a total of 250 events, Fira de Barcelona reached a turnover of 211 million euros in 2022, a year in which it achieved the best result in its history, with an ebitda of 37 million.