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The Barcelona International Convention Centre (CCIB) will report a turnover of 34.5 million euros in 2007. This figure represents an increase of 44.3% on the 23.9 million euros generated in 2006 and continues the trend that the venue has maintained since it opened three years ago. In the current financial year the CCIB has hosted 125 events, most of them of an international character, which have been attended by more than 160,000 delegates. It has contracts signed to hold major events up to 2011.
On this note, Jesús Álvarez, the Managing Director of the venue’s management company, GL Events CCIB, stated that “the number of events signed up for the coming financial years allows us to forecast continuing turnover growth for 2008 and also for 2009.”
The growth in turnover in 2007 is in line with the increase in the number of events hosted, which was 12.6% higher in this financial year than in 2006 (111 events). The managing director of the CCIB affirmed that, in addition to growing appreciably, “the events held at the CCIB are increasingly high profile, lasting more days and attracting visitors with greater spending power, all of which has a greater economic impact on the city of Barcelona”. Thus, in its first three years the CCIB has brought around 509 million euros to the city’s hotels, with the 2007 figure of 209 million being especially noteworthy, representing an increase of 25.1% over the estimated 167 million generated in 2006.
The CCIB has hosted a total of 321 events, of which 60% have been international in character (20% global and 40% European events). Jesús Álvarez commented that “the Barcelona International Convention Centre was created to complement the existing range of trade fair and conference facilities available in Barcelona, with the clear aim of attracting the most prestigious, large-scale international events to help position the city as a first-class business destination” and said “we at the CCIB are enormously pleased with the results of these three years, which have surpassed the objectives we set ourselves”.
Barcelona today is ranked fourth in the world by international event organisers, according to statistics compiled for 2006 by the International Conference and Conventions Association (ICCA), a figure which only Vienna, Paris and Singapore exceeded.
International leader
Of the events hosted at the CCIB, 44% were for corporate clients, 31% for professional associations, 20% for institutions and 5% were trade fairs. The Barcelona venue is distinctive in that practically all of the events held there are of a professional nature. Corporate events held range from professional congresses and product launches to the conventions of major companies who are leaders in their respective sectors. These include companies such as Microsoft —which has recently held its two main European events here for the second year running, with over 9,000 attendees, and will return in 2008—, IBM, HP, Cisco, Toyota and Nissan, among others.
The venue has also consolidated its position as a world leader in the organisation of events for professional associations, mainly in the medical and pharmaceutical sectors. In 2007, for example, the centre hosted the European Congress on Cardiovascular Surgery (EuroPCR), the congress of the European League against Rheumatism (EULAR), and the European Congress on Cancer (ECCO), each of which attracted more than 12,000 delegates. The CCIB’s status is confirmed to a significant extent by the number of companies and associations who return to hold their events here in successive years.
These include the World Retail Congress, held this year and to be repeated until 2009, the 2007 European Congress on Cardiovascular Surgery (EuroPCR) which will return in 2008 and 2009, and the Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancer (GI Cancer) which first met in the CCIB in 2005 and will return until 2011. At a corporate level, highlights include the seven high-profile events held by Microsoft in the period 2005-2008.
Since it opened, the CCIB has also hosted institutional events such as the Summit of Heads of State and Government and the Congress of the European Space Agency. Events for the world of entertainment include TVE’s 50th Anniversary gala, the presentation galas of the internationally renowned Laureus World Awards and European Film Awards, and the music festivals Primavera Sound and Primavera Club, in 2006 and 2007. The CCIB has a staff of 112 and indirectly generates employment for a further 400 professionals in the fields of audiovisual engineering, IT, maintenance, security, catering, logistics and cleaning.
Constant investment in facilities
During the last three years the centre has invested around 11 million euros in equipment and improving facilities. It has recently acquired 16 new high-definition Barco projectors after an investment of 750,000 euros. This is the only projection equipment which uses the Windows Vista system to 100% of its potential and gives optimum image quality even on screens over 10 metres wide.
The Barcelona convention venue is the first facility to install these audiovisual systems, demonstrating its determination to be always at the forefront of technology. The CCIB, which last July received the prize for the best technologically equipped conference centre in the world from the International Association of Congress Centres (AIPC), has a powerful wireless voice and data telecommunications system capable of providing a Wi-Fi internet connection for 2,500 users at the same time. The centre has now initiated a study into increasing the capacity of this network to 1 GB, which will further expand its connection capacity.
The CCIB’s facilities include more than 3,000 square metres of kitchens where more than 30,000 dishes can be prepared every day. During 2007 investments have been made to improve the cellar, storage and kitchen facilities, extending storage and work areas by some 1,000 m3. Extension plans for the kitchens in 2008 will position the centre at the cutting edge of European conference and congress centres in terms of its gastronomy.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
