"It has been an unimaginable exercise." This is how the general director of Fira de Barcelona, Constantí Serrallonga, has described the 2023 balance, whose team has managed to achieve the best results in the institution's history, which had never before managed to exceed revenues of 250 million euros and a result ---measured in terms of ebitda--- of 39 million.
The 2019 turnover of 219 million has been widely surpassed, so the pandemic has not only been completely overcome, but has marked the beginning of a new acceleration phase aimed at making Fira de Barcelona the leader in the European trade fair sector. In this regard, the goal is already set to break the record again in 2024, when sales of 260 million have been budgeted thanks to the good prospects of shows such as MWC, ISE, and Alimentaria, and the revenues that unique events like McDonald's global convention, which will fill 60% of the Gran Via venue, will generate. 2024 will also see the launch of an important international project: the celebration of an Alimentaria fair edition in China.
"2023 was supposed to be a transition year; we didn't expect it to be so good, it pleasantly surprised us," explained Serrallonga in a meeting with the press prior to the General Council meeting of Fira de Barcelona, in which the Barcelona City Council, the Generalitat, and the Cambra de Comerç are represented. According to Serrallonga, the 2023 results had been projected for 2024, a year in which pre-pandemic activity was expected to be surpassed. "We have advanced the recovery by a year," he stated, as what was initially planned for this year was to exceed 200 million. "We are opening a new historical stage for Fira de Barcelona," highlighted the mayor and president of the General Council, Jaume Collboni, who thanked the management team for their work.
In total, the three venues of Fira de Barcelona (Montjuïc, Gran Via, and CCIB) have hosted 270 events that have generated revenues of 250.2 million, a figure that represents a growth of 17.9% compared to the 211 million in 2022. The ebitda has also been a record, with 39 million, up 6.6%.
"We are at a historic moment. 2023 has been an extraordinary year for Fira de Barcelona, not only because of these historic results, but because we have been able to continue attracting major world-renowned events," emphasized the president of the entity's board of directors, Pau Relat. According to the executive, the key to this success lies in the fact that Fira de Barcelona "has managed to attract all the major reference trade shows that had to change their venue". "All of them have chosen to come to Barcelona and, as Barcelonans, we must value this. Thanks to the assets we have at Fira and in the city, today the entire trade fair world wants to hold its events here," said a jubilant Relat, who highlighted the "reinforcement for the economic solvency" of the institution and the country that the achievements of 2023 represent.
This year, Fira de Barcelona announced the capture of three major events that will arrive in 2025. Thus, in August The New Barcelona Post advanced the arrival in the Catalan capital of the world's largest fair for the casino sector (ICE) and also the Labelexpo Europe show, the largest fair in the packaging printing sector. In September, a third agreement was announced to bring the Vitafoods Europe event to Barcelona, considered the leading show in the nutraceutical industry. Until now, they were held in London, Brussels, and Geneva, respectively.
Pau Relat: "2023 has been an extraordinary year for Fira de Barcelona, not only because of these historic results, but because we have been able to continue attracting major world-renowned events"According to Constantí Serrallonga, the key that led them to choose Barcelona lies not only in the city's attractiveness for visitors, but in the fact that the trade fair infrastructure of the Catalan capital gives them guarantees to ensure their growth. "Fair organizers have realized that choosing Barcelona as a venue ends up being a clear boost to their growth, is a differential element that other fairs such as MWC or ISE have already experienced," highlights the director, after emphasizing the virtuous circle generated between the quality of the fairgrounds and the city's assets, in reference to having an airport just minutes from the Gran Via venue with extensive international connections, a powerful hotel industry, and the gastronomic, leisure, and commercial offerings of Barcelona.
The success of 2023 constitutes a perfect lever to advance Fira de Barcelona's strategic plan, which has two major goals on the horizon: the expansion of the Gran Via venue, which will gain 60,000 square meters starting in autumn 2026 ---entering the big league of 300,000 m² venues---, and the comprehensive remodeling of the Montjuïc fair palaces coinciding with the celebration of the centenary of the 1929 International Exhibition; works will begin in 2026. Both projects will require an investment of close to 500 million euros, which will be assumed by the patrimonial company Fira 2000, whose main shareholder is the Generalitat.
Increase in the annual fee from 10 to 12 million
Fira de Barcelona annually pays a fee to Fira 2000 for the use of the exhibition pavilions, a figure that is expected to increase in the coming years to cover the cost of the works and also in line with the increase in sales and EBITDA. In this regard, Serrallonga announced this Friday that in 2024 Fira will increase the annual fee by two million, from the current 10 million to 12 million annually.
According to Collboni, Fira will take "a historic leap" with the transformation of Montjuïc and the new Gran Via pavilion, projects that will generate "more opportunities, create more jobs, and involve the city more."
Along these lines, Pau Relat has made it clear that "the success of 2023" is just a continuation within the "long-term vision" strategy that guides the board of directors, composed solely of entrepreneurs. "Fira de Barcelona has a clear ambition to continue growing. Today I reaffirm the ambition to lead the European trade fair market," he emphasized after thanking the "deep institutional loyalty," which is the guarantee for the public-private collaboration formula that governs the Fira to succeed. "We are facing a shared success. A success of the present and the future. The Fira has a past that has been transformative for the city, but also a bright future that will allow it to continue being an economic and social engine for the country," said the president.
Relat: "The Fira has a past that has been transformative for the city, but also a bright future that will allow it to continue being an economic and social engine for the country"Three salons generate a third of the business
Currently, Fira de Barcelona's three main trade shows are MWC, ISE, and Alimentaria, as, together, they generate more than a third of the turnover. The global technology and mobile telephony congress accounts for 20% of the annual revenue, a figure that Serrallonga expects to maintain in the coming years despite the arrival of new shows, because MWC continues to grow year after year and is waiting to be able to have the 60,000 new square meters of Gran Via as soon as possible. For its part, Alimentaria reaffirms itself as Fira's own major show, a leader in visitor numbers and responsible for 10% of its income. Finally, ISE is the new jewel in the crown, a fast-growing and developing fair in Barcelona that already generates 6% of sales. The three shows will be held in the first quarter of 2024, so the fair year will start strong.
From the year that is ending, in addition to MWC and ISE, Serrallonga highlighted the success of Smart City Expo and the meetings organized by large multinationals such as VMware and Gartner, without forgetting the celebration of the CPHI fair, a world leader in the pharmaceutical industry. Important medical congresses and events that were new to Barcelona were also hosted, such as the World Airports Congress, the Michelin Stars Gala, the Global Transport Summit (UITP) and the retail sector fair Shoptalk, which has decided to stay in the city and will hold a new edition in 2024.
2024 will be another record year
And what is expected in 2024? In addition to the aforementioned MWC-ISE-Alimentaria & Hostelco triad, Fira de Barcelona will host, among many other regular fairs on its calendar, new editions of the Seafood, Smart City and Hispack shows, along with important medical meetings such as the meetings of the European societies of Medical Oncology (ESMO) or gynecological cancer (ESGO). The city will also be the venue for the UN's global conference on ocean protection, and important business events, such as McDonald's annual convention or the global meetings of tech giants such as IBM (for the first time at the CCIB), SAP, HP, Gartner, MWware and Nutanix.
Serrallonga has admitted that it is increasingly complex to find available slots in the calendar to accommodate the nearly 300 events that choose Fira de Barcelona each year. "We are making a great effort from the operations department to maximize the increasingly scarce available space," he explained, after acknowledging that with the arrival of the three new shows already announced for 2025, it will be difficult to allow more fairs until the expansion of Gran Via is completed. "We are already working to host new projects starting in 2027," he announced.
Eleven shows outside Spain in 2024
Finally, Fira de Barcelona has announced a new boost to its international activity with the celebration in 2024 of a total of eleven fairs in other countries. Noteworthy is the launch of Alimentaria China, a country where Fira co-manages two important exhibition venues. For the first time, an edition of Smart City Expo will also take place in New York and in Saudi Arabia. There will also be Smart City in China, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia. Likewise, the Alimentos Cuba show will be organized in Havana, and the Tomorrow Mobility fair will be internationalized, reaching Mexico, and the IOT congress, which will have an edition in Brazil.
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