Meet Catalunya 2024 Green Edition – homage to sustainability

Improving sustainability is key to future proofing Catalonia as a business events destination, the CCB’s Sònia Serracarbassa tells delegates at its biennial networking event. Simon George reports Meet Catalunya 2024, a MICE workshop/networking event hosted by the Catalan Tourist Board and Catalunya Convention Bureau (CCB), was officially launched at the 5-star Camiral hotel near Girona on 26 June. Attended by over 75 event professionals and 87 Catalan companies, and incorporating some 1,500 business meetings, the three-day programme, which began in Girona and ended in Barcelona, showcased the rich variety of opportunities the region has to offer as a MICE destination, while placing special emphasis on the need for sustainability, which explains why for the first time the 2024 iteration of the event was branded the Green Edition. Future proofing events is key In her opening presentation, CCB director Sònia Serracarbassa singled out the importance of sustainability in future-proofing the business events industry, a theme that would take centre stage throughout the programme – from the individual presentations by local convention bureaux at the official launch, including low-cost carrier Vueling’s presentation of its plan to transition to sustainable aviation fuel; to the focus on protecting the environment at our two hotel site inspections, the newly opened 4-star Tembo and the 5-star Intercontinental in Barcelona; to our guided walking tour of 22@, a smart city/innovation district that highlighted how sustainability is being used to improve mobility and regenerate previously run-down industrial areas in Barcelona, for which the 1992 summer Olympics proved so transformational, and CMW’s own interview with Serracarbassa in which she expanded on the subject. BEFuture Sustainability lies at the heart of BEFuture, an EU-funded programme that aims to transform Europe’s business events sector through sustainability, inclusivity and resilience (for more details, see here). Serracarbassa elaborated on Catalonia’s/Spain’s own participation in the programme which was launched in September 2023 with €4m funding in partnership with five other EU members (Germany, France, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands) and is scheduled to be completed in April 2026. A White Paper highlighting the programme’s findings will be published in the autumn and presented at IBTM in November in Barcelona. Serracarbassa did not mince her words about the programme’s importance: “We are exploring how the new business model for business events should look like in 10 years’ time (2035) if as an industry we still want to be alive. We need to be resilient as an industry but we also need to be competitive. We need to drive the industry… organisations, public institutions and convention bureaux… to make this transition to be more sustainable but also more digital. That’s why we launched this project and asked the EU for funding.” It is worth flagging here not only why the meetings and events industry is so important for Catalonia but why sustainability represents a key challenge. In terms of business events, the industry is more active than ever and has recovered well from the pandemic, according to the CCB’s director. Catalonia is very strong in the automotive sector (SEAT is based in Barcelona) – the hotel Tembo is hosting a car launch in September, for example. So, too, in sport (football, Formula 1, basketball, the Americas Cup – which Barcelona is hosting from August to October this year). Food and biotech are also key MICE sectors and Barcelona is becoming more and more integrated into the blue economy (ocean resources), Serracarbassa said. In terms of revenue generation, Catalonia is certainly making progress. Individual spending by MICE delegates visiting the region for congresses or business events is 32% up on average on its pre-pandemic level in 2019, Narcís Ferrer, the director of the Catalan Tourism Agency, told delegates at the event. Challenges Of course, Catalonia wants to attract more business, Serracarbassa acknowledged, but there is a flip side, namely the social impact of business events and the dangers posed by overtourism. Like Venice, Prague and Amsterdam, Barcelona is routinely cited as falling into this category, something which the authorities are well aware of and keen to address. For example, Barcelona’s mayor recently announced that from 2028 foreign tourists will be prohibited from renting apartments in the city. Hence the importance of not only being green and sustainable but attracting the right type of business event that adds value by having a positive local impact, the CCB’s director emphasised. Photos by MEET CATALUNYA official photographer, Gerard Franquesa