FIRA DE BARCELONA
| REPORTS 2012
Bta.– Hostelco, Tourism, EIBTM, Barcelona Bridal
Week, Barcelona Meeting Point, Bizbarcelona, etc.
Throughout the year, Fira established or attracted
shows which respond to new business and social
demands. It is the case of MI Health Forum,
which appeared with the will to be a leading show
in innovation, management and sustainability of
Health Services; or Seafodd Barcelona, specialized
in the food industry, which replicated the European
Seafood Exposition that takes place in Brussels.
The great assets of the new show are the strategic
positioning of Barcelona in the food sector and its
own trade fair tradition.
Another new show was the Manga Fair, devoted to
Japanese cartoons and the cultural world around
them which was hosted at the Montjuïc venue to
promote its chances to develop.
In line with the policy of attracting new
international shows, in 2012 the fair venues
hosted leading industrial itinerant shows such as In
Cosmetics (materials for the cosmetics industry),
Chemspec Europe (fine chemistry) and Fespa
Digital Europe (digital and offset printing).
Significant congresses and meetings
In the sphere of meetings and congresses,
worthy of note were professional events as
important as the International Conference On
Home Mechanical Ventilation, the Southern
European Veterinary Congress, the Urban
Research Symposium, organized by the World
Bank, and especially the VM World meeting,
organized by the cloud computing leading
company VMware, which brought together 8,000
experts and collaborating companies. In relation
to entertainment and cultural big events, Sónar
Festival and Barcelona Harley Days are worthy of
special note.
There were also more than 70 different activities,
including corporative, institutional, commercial
and sportive, and more than 500 activities
(congresses, seminars and cultural activities),
taking place in the shows. In this respect, worthy
of mention is that during 2012 the Sectorial
Summit department consolidated itself. There was
a significant increase in congress programmes
and events directly managed by this department,
involving 10 shows with 372 activities and 728
speakers, which represents 1,160 hours of
knowledge exchange in only 35 show days. 48% of
the participants were international.
New international business
Needless to say, internationalization continued
to be one of the cornerstones of the institution’s
policy. It could be affirmed that it is one of the
intrinsic values of Fira de Barcelona, which in
addition to direct income from accommodation,
business and services in the city, generates
synergies between international and local
companies, between exhibitors and visitors, and
creates opportunities for companies wishing to
access new foreign markets. Currently, more than
45% of the exhibitors and visitors who attend
professional shows are foreign.
Through 2012, the Fira offices widened their
scope of action to Colombia, Czech Republic and
Slovakia. As this Report was being written, there
was a new addition of an office covering the Gulf
countries (United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia,
Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman). Fira has 20
offices in 43 countries of Europe, North and Latin
America, Maghreb and Asia.
One of the main aspects of internalization
during 2012 was the progress of foreign
business, by helping Fira exhibitors to
participate in shows in other countries, as well
as by selling management and consultation
services to other trade fairs.
This strategic line materialised itself in the
presence of a Hostelco stand, devoted to hotel
equipment, in the Hotelex fair (Shanghai) in April;
the presence of The Brandey, the urban and
contemporary fashion show, in the Blueprint fair
(Singapore) in May; the attendance of the Piscina
show in September in the Dubai ME Pool & Spa
fair, and the participation of Construmat in the
Ficons de Recife show, in the Brazilian state of
Pernambuco in October. The International Business
Area worked all year to prepare new international
appearances for 2013, such as the Piscina show
at Expolazer in Sao Paulo, and in Moscow, and a
new event of Hotelco in Hotelex, in Shanghai.
Other lines of work included selling consultancy
services related to trade fair events to different
countries, especially from Latin America, and an
agreement was signed with the city of Montreal
to provide advise about event organization at the
Montreal Fair.
Thinking of the future
Trade fairs need some time to mature and
develop. This is why we stress the fact that
during 2012, new innovative shows were
designed, and efforts were made to guarantee
the celebration of shows that are very important
to the country’s economic life, planned for
2013, but which have been affected by the
recession. Worthy of special note in this respect
is the Barcelona International Motor Show 2013,
and the willingness to redirect Construmat
by seeking opportunities abroad for Spanish
sectorial companies.
Also during 2012, the establishment of
new shows was announced, as well as the
recruitment of new events. The shows added
to Fira de Barcelona are Pharmaprocess, on
services supply for the pharmaceutical industry;
Bodylife Barcelona, an event on fitness that
will be hosted jointly either with Piscina or with
Hostelco; and Dental Forum, in agreement with
the College of Dental Surgeons of Catalonia.
On the other hand, in 2013 Tissue World will
be hosted for the first time in Barcelona and in
Fira. This is the leading show on special paper
products for industry, health services and the
household. Also, a renewal contract until 2016
was signed with EIBTM, the major show about
tourism and business, and it was announced
that Barcelona had won the international contest
to host EVS, the leading event on electric
vehicles, which in 2011 took place in Los
Angeles, and which will coincide with Smart City
2013. Urban and environmental sustainability
are becoming more and more important and,
in this line, Fira will be the venue for the
2014 Congress of the European Wind Energy
Association (EWEA).
Alimentaria Exhibitions
At the end of 2012 it became official the
agreement whereby Fira de Barcelona acquired
from Reed Exhibitions 50% of the capital that it
had in Alimentaria Exhibitions, joint venture that
both entities had established in 2002 to organize,
among other events, the Alimentaria show. After
this operation, Fira became the sole owner of
the society, which will continue to cooperate
with the British multinational in new projects to
export Alimentaria to other countries. Alimentaria
Exhibitions, organiser of Alimentaria Mexico,
Alimentaria Lisbon and the new Alimentaria
Sao Paulo, as well as of Bta. Barcelona Food
Technology, will work according to the same
guidelines and commercial direction.
Fira will continue its work throughout 2012
to develop an active policy of Corporate
Social Responsibility that includes a firm
commitment to sustainability and energetic
efficiency, cooperation with the University and
the educational world, and solidarity actions
in cooperation with different organizations and
entities, which become even more meaningful in
times of special hardships.
With the aim of having a global view of the
economy, the markets, the opportunities and the
demands of companies and the environment,
Fira continued to generate synergies between the
institution and the city. Barcelona, with its own
brand, reinforces Fira’s dimensions. In turn, it
contributes to the city’s positioning, its growth and
its international impact.
