Christoph Tessmar, director Barcelona Convention Bureau, discusses the significance of events to his city.
What is the significance of business events to the city of Barcelona?
Barcelona is a tourist hotspot, for sure, yet the fact that we are successful with business events also means we have a certain quality in our offer. This brings a big economic impact as well as a significant legacy effect. We work more closely than ever with local economic clusters and have been successful connecting them up with the big events like Integrated Systems Europe and the Mobile World Congress. We are attracting large medical events because of the significant medical community in Barcelona and the number of doctors and hospitals. Our researchers in this field are also presenting at global conferences. The great infrastructure makes organising events in Barcelona easy. The airport is close to the city centre, as are the convention centres and there is a high level of professionalism in the sector with all stakeholders working together as one team to deliver effective events. Our CVB strategy is not to immediately point to the typical topics one associates with Barcelona, such as the Mediterranean culture, climate or food. We focus first on the needs of the client and how we can work together to make the meeting a success. At a later step we can bring in the destination attractions and added value.
Hosting the PCMA Convening EMEA conference in 2024 will be big, right?
PCMA Convening EMEA is next year and we will be offering full support, with the focus on doing things differently. We are one of the most important start-up hubs in Europe and will be showing off our ‘Barcelona Tech’ a non-profit initiative driven by the main technological entrepreneurs in the city. We will involve them in the PCMA conference. Barcelona is also working hard on becoming a hub for the ‘Blue’ economy and the port is involved with that and with PCMA. It won’t be just about speakers explaining, but a collaborative programme involving our local clusters. We expect more than 600 attendees at our CCIB venue for PCMA. Out-of-the-box sessions will also be showcasing many interesting things that take place in Barcelona and give a taste of what is really going on. 
How do you work with your local partners?
Firstly, we work with the hotels on rates and they really do understand the importance of this to the meetings industry. We always have to have an eye on the future. Our clients tend to return, but if rates are set too high they may not do that. During the Mobile Congress one local butcher said he did as much business as he usually did in one month during that event, so many businesses benefit from the major events, not just ones connected to our industry. Among the help we can offer is the T-Event public transport pass for delegates to explore the city. It is simply not sustainable having buses going to and from the venue all day. We try to do joint projects with organisers, many of whom understand it is not only about bringing X number of people in, but about building something in the city. At the 2019 Mobile World Congress there was a demonstration of the first remote surgery using 5G technology to connect to a hospital in Israel. Many new treatments have come out of our medical conferences and when you bring 30,000 doctors to the city and they talk about the future of cancer or cardiology, the results can benefit the whole world. In terms of the key sectors in Barcelona for conferencing, I would list technology, tourism, the food sector and the medical sector above others.
How does the CVB work to ensure that events leave a positive legacy?
We have created a sustainability guide to events and promote legacy projects. We had a wonderful project with the World Parkinson Congress this July, using our public transport app to inform people how to understand Parkinson patients’ behaviour. We are pushing importance of certifications also in the sustainability arena.
