Barcelona’s CCIB reports visitor and financial upturn

GL Events’ Barcelona International Convention Centre (CCIB) hosted 112 events in 2016, attracting 537,384 visitors, up 12.14% from the previous year. In terms of business volume, the CCIB posted revenue of €35.6m, a record increase of 19.5% (€29.8m in 2015). “The clear improvement in the national market and the extraordinary behaviour of the international market, along with confirmation of Barcelona as a top-notch tourism destination, particularly for business tourism, have been key,” said CCIB managing director Marc Rodríguez. 40% of the events held at the CCIB in 2016 were international, making up 88% of its income. The number of recurring events rose to 46.4%, making up 56.6% of the total business volume and pointing to positive growth in the future. Noteworthy among the events held in 2016 include the Gartner ITXpo Symposium (7,800 participants), an important yearly meeting of the technology sector that has been held at the CCIB since 2011; the pre-Mobile World Congress event Samsung Unpacked (5,000 participants); and the Openstack Summit 2016 (5,200 participants), which brings together leaders in ICT and the cloud computing community in more than 500 sessions. In terms of congresses, the CCIB hosted large international medical and scientific events, including CIRSE (6,700 experts in cardiology), EANM (6,300 experts in nuclear medicine), NIPS (4,800 experts in neurology) and ESMO (3,200 experts in oncology). Elsewhere, 2016 saw editions of the STS fair (40,000 participants from the beauty and cosmetics sector), Fira Magic (esotericism), Security Forum (security) and InteriHotel (interiors design showroom for the hotel sector). Also, the annual convention of the European film distribution industry, CineEurope (3,500 participants), held at the CCIB for the fifth year in a row, celebrating its 25th anniversary. The 8^th annual gala of the Gaudí Awards also deserves a special mention, organised by the Catalan Academy of Cinema, which returned to the CCIB in January 2017.