Spain, along with Barcelona and Madrid on the top, remained as one of the places chosen for international congress tourism during 2015.
The two major Spanish cities are among the top five destinations for business meetings and conferences, according to the latest ranking of the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA).
Barcelona only is surpassed by Berlin and Paris, and it gets the third position in the medal tally of the major international enclaves.
Madrid loses events but remains just behind Vienna and tied for fifth place with London.
In the overall ranking, to Spain and 572 annual conferences, only surpass the US, Germany and the United Kingdom.
A stimulus for further work on attracting international events!
The organization of events in Barcelona
The Catalan capital will host events in various venues such as the Centre de Convencions International de Barcelona (CCIB) located at the Forum or the Palau de Congressos de Catalunya near Barcelona’s University Zone.
Although the most emblematic and demanded space is the Fira de Barcelona, Montjuic in its both enclosures and Gran Via-l’Hospitalet.
This is where massive technology fairs such as the Mobile World Congress, sectoral reference events like Food, music festivals like Sonar held
and real estate fairs as the Barcelona Meeting Point.
Barcelona annually hosts 180 events and conferences that represent an economic impact of 1,500 million euros per year.
Madrid congress tourism
Madrid has multiple spaces for holding fairs and congresses.
The Palacio Municipal de Congresos and the Recinto Ferial de la Casa de Campo are two of the most striking, although business tourism develops both in the city and in the nearby towns.
However, the reference area is IFEMA (Madrid Trade Fair Institution), located in the Parque Ferial Juan Carlos I. A space with 200,000 square meters of exhibition space that houses some of the largest fairs in the country.
Tourist events such as FITUR, large contemporary art fairs such as ARCO, fashion shows such as Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week lounges or real estate as SIMAEXPO (Spring and Autumn).
A set of events each year which exceeds the 816 million of economic impact.
The two cities the country chosen by millions of tourists and the cities of reference for thousands of businesses and professionals.
