Add and continue. Fira de Barcelona has closed another record-breaking year and has managed to exceed the 300 million euro revenue barrier for the first time. "It's a historic milestone," remarked its president, Pau Relat, unanimously re-elected to the position for four more years. "When we were coming out of the pandemic, we never imagined putting this 3 in front. It's a clear sign of the impact we generate on the economy," continued the general director, Constantí Serrallonga.
An economic impact that the Minister of Business and Labor, Miquel Sàmper, has estimated at almost 5 billion euros, which translates into the generation of 35,000 direct and indirect jobs and the attraction of three million congress attendees. "It is an economic and social engine," Sàmper emphasized. The institution thus links two years of giant leaps, after also registering record turnover in 2023, with 250 million euros, and having managed to leave behind sooner than expected the strong impact that covid had on its business.
Fira de Barcelona's revenues have improved this year without having organized more trade shows and congresses, with the total number remaining at the 270 that also occurred in 2023. "Those we have hosted have been larger, which implies more turnover," Serrallonga pointed out. With an MWC that continues to gain weight, the most important fair hosted by the city, as do others such as ISE, Alimentaria or the Smart City Expo, the results of the fair institution are growing, not only in terms of revenue. EBITDA has registered another new record, with 50 million euros, 24% more than a year ago, when it reached 39 million euros. All in all, Fira has registered a pre-tax profit of close to 20 million euros this year.
With an increasingly consolidated international leadership in technological and medical trade shows, Fira de Barcelona is warming up to extend its good run into 2025 and exceed 300 million in revenue with the 270 fairs planned. In an increasingly tight calendar, none of its biennial shows, such as Alimentaria, will fall next year, but new events will arrive. The novelties will be the International Casino Exhibition (ICE), the world's largest fair in the casino sector, Labelexpo Europe, the largest show for the packaging printing sector, and Vitafoods Europe, a leading fair in the nutraceutical industry. The management of Padel World Summit and Vibra, focused on women's well-being and health, will also be taken over.
In addition, next year a new stage will open with the incorporation of the Circuit de Barcelona into Fira's portfolio, pending news on whether the contract with Formula 1 will be renewed beyond 2026. "What we want is to guarantee the resounding success of F1 and MotoGP," Serrallonga emphasized. But there will be life beyond motorsports in Montmeló, with the aim of maximizing the performance of the facilities. Congresses and fairs will be organized, but hosting concerts and festivals, organized in collaboration with B:SM, responsible for the Lluís Companys Stadium, is also contemplated.
More muscle
A fourth venue for Fira de Barcelona to gain more capacity and prepare for a future in which its clients expect to continue expanding and will need more space. The Circuit de Barcelona joins the Montjuïc and Gran Via venues, immersed in a reform and expansion process of almost 500 million euros that began in 2019, and the Barcelona International Convention Center (CCIB), integrated in 2021. It is at the CCIB where the bulk of medical shows are concentrated, one of the main growth levers that the institution is promoting.
The Circuit de Barcelona joins the Montjuïc and Gran Via venues, and the Barcelona International Convention CenterWith the CCIB increasing its turnover, Montjuïc and Gran Via see their update plans progressing. In the case of the former, more and more steps are being taken. The architectural competition is about to be resolvedfor the remodeling of Fira Montjuïc, with which the current facilities will be modernized and a new Congress Palace and an incubator will be builtstartups. It is expected to announce during the first quarter of 2025 the offices chosen for the first phase of the works, which must be finished by the centenary of the 1929 Universal Exhibition. This consolidates it as the main urban transformation project facing Barcelona, not only in the planned action in the fairgrounds but also in its entire surroundings, withthe expansion of the MNACpicking up speed and theproject to extend metro line 2dusting off the dust it has accumulated during years of oblivion.
But what is marked in red on Fira's calendar is the year 2027, when the expansion of the Gran Via venue will be ready, an urgent need for events like Mobile. The construction of a new pavilion, known as Hall Zero, will add 60,000 square meters of exhibition space, reaching 300,000 square meters, which will place Barcelona in a trade fair league where few cities compete, among them Hannover, Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Munich, and Milan. Work is already underway on the land previously occupied by Porcelanosa, with the forecast of launching the architecture and installations tender, valued at 140 million euros, in April 2025. It is estimated that the works of the complex, designed by Japanese architect Toyo Ito and the Barcelona studio B720 by Fermín Vázquez, will finish by the end of 2026.
"We have a great present thanks to those who bet in the past on having the Fira we have. It is a success for everyone," Serrallonga defended. "It has been done from deep consensus and institutional loyalty," Relat stressed, reviewing his first term as president of Fira de Barcelona, which has lasted for six years, from 2018 to this 2024, with the pandemic in between. With his renewal at the head of the board of directors for a second term, the directors Manel Vallet (Catalonia Hotels), Mar Alarcón (SocialCar), and Helena Guardans (Sellbytell) have also been renewed.