Pau Relat: "We are not aware of the assets Barcelona has"

There has been no greater Barcelona concern than the constant fear that the Mobile World Congress (MWC) would leave the city. Recurrent were the statements that saw the expiration date of the technology fair as imminent, even more so when the political context heated up or with the arrival of the pandemic. Despite everything, there are those who have always been clear that the congress was not going to leave the Catalan capital. One of them has been its most visible face, John Hoffman, who often reprimands Barcelonians for their lack of self-esteem. This was explained by the president of Fira de Barcelona, Pau Relat, in a new session of the The New Barcelona-Moments Estel·lars cycle, organized by The New Barcelona Post, in collaboration with Must Media Group, CASA SEAT and Barcelona Global, and presented by journalist and UPF-BSM professor Toni Aira.

"Hoffman always makes us the same reflection: gentlemen of Barcelona, you believe very little in yourselves. We arrived here in 2006 from Cannes with 40,000-50,000 visitors. Together, we have brought the show to 110,000 visitors," Relat recalled of the many conversations he has had with Hoffman over the years."We never saw the Mobile at risk," continued the president of Fira."From a business perspective, if you have an event that has arrived in the city, that works, and that you have duplicated or tripled, why do you have to run the risk of changing locations and seeing if your exhibitors and visitors will follow you?" he remarked.

In case common sense failed, the Fira de Barcelona team made sure that the MWC organizers had nothing to reproach them for, beyond their lack of self-esteem. "What we had to do was manage with excellence from the very first moment and each edition with the highest demands; we have not relaxed at any time, to set the necessary conditions for the alliance with Mobile to extend for many years," Relat stated.

Nevertheless, the president of the fair institution pointed out, the agreement to renew the contract until 2030 and designate Barcelona as the permanent home of the MWC has achieved what seemed impossible in a city like this, "dispelling any kind of doubt and concerns that someone might have about the future of Mobile in Barcelona." "It is news of extraordinary dimension, not for the renewal itself, but for what the Mobile gentlemen are telling us: we want to link our future with yours," he defended.

Following the trail of the city's insecurities with the MWC, Relat cited as an example other international events that chose Barcelona as their venue during complicated political periods, such as the ISE and Seafood fairs. Their arrivals were announced in turbulent years like 2018 and 2019, which were also record years for Fira. "We are not aware of the assets our city has. We are caught up in the day-to-day and fall into absolute pessimism and discouragement, and we don't see how we are perceived from outside," said the president of Fira.

He likes to ask the organizers of the fairs, once they have chosen to locate in the Catalan capital, why they have done so. Without thinking about the climate and other easy jokes about Barcelona, Relat said that they highlight factors such as being a large city but of manageable size; its hotel, gastronomic, and service offerings; having a "premium exhibition center and the best management team led by Constantí Serrallonga," and direct airport connections with the main European destinations, from where, to this day, most congress attendees come.

In that sense, the executive has called for "an honest and long-term debate" to continue ensuring that Barcelona Airport positions them so well against other locations. "For consistency, if institutions have decided on an investment of 400 million to expand Fira with the aim of growing with large events and having more and more international visitors, common sense tells us that we should be able to dimension the country's infrastructures to serve all this flow of people that we expect to come," he stated. Without evaluating the infrastructure expansion options that have been discussed, Relat has argued that Fira needs more intercontinental flights to facilitate the arrival of visitors from America and Asia, a strategic audience for the institution in the coming years, once the European one is consolidated.

He calls for "an honest and long-term debate" to continue ensuring that Barcelona Airport positions Fira so well against other locations

Relat added a final factor that convinces organizers of international trade shows in their commitment to Barcelona: public-private collaboration. The president of Fira explained that the promoters of ISE, the world's largest audiovisual fair, were surprised by the involvement of local institutions in adding new events like theirsIn Amsterdam, their location for the last 16 years, they had never received a visit from their mayor, and yet, here everything had started differently. The then Minister of Business of the Generalitat, Àngels Chacón, had already visited them a couple of times to advocate for Catalonia's commitment to their sector and the fit they would have in the productive fabric. This Monday, Chacón was among the audience listening to Relat.

All of this allows the Montjuïc and Gran Via venues to be leaders, not only in Spain, but throughout Europe. "At this moment, Fira de Barcelona is the leading trade fair institution, by far, in the Spanish State and in Mediterranean Europe, and is in the Top 10 in Europe," Relat explained. And, in those ten positions, the Catalan capital is placed eighth, behind seven German cities and ahead of Paris and Milan. The modernization of Montjuïc and the expansion of Gran Via, going from 240,000 square meters to 300,000 square meters, must serve to become one of the best infrastructures "in the whole world", attracting more congresses and reinforcing those that already exist. "We are in a leadership position that we not only want to maintain but also want to strengthen," Relat emphasized.

The president of Fira de Barcelona, who leads a board of directors made up entirely of businessmen, explained that the key to success since the refoundation of the entity in 2000 lies in having had "a long-term vision" and the firm will to be "an economic and social engine for Barcelona and its area of influence." "The long-term vision that we were able to have in the past has guaranteed our present success and will guarantee our future," he stressed.

"The long-term vision that we were able to have in the past has guaranteed our present success and will guarantee our future"

He also highlighted the civil society involvementand of the thousand entrepreneurs and executives who altruistically form part of the organizing committees of the entity's trade shows. "The involvement is total and this is a totally differential model, which is often difficult to understand in other geographies," he said proudly. Likewise, despite the not always favorable context, he wanted to make it clear that Fira de Barcelona has been these last 22 years "a space of broad consensus and deep institutional loyalty", as demonstrated in 2019 with the signing of the agreement for the new expansion project.

Relat has boasted about the management carried out by Fira de Barcelona during the health crisis. "We have overcome the pandemic with flying colors. Despite having been two years without income, we are very proud of the work done because we have not caused problems; on the contrary, we have provided solutions and have been a useful tool for the reactivation of the economy. It is also a great source of pride to see how we have put our facilities at the service of the people: more than a million people have come to get vaccinated at Fira!", concluded its president.