He state of alarm It was not declared until March 14, but, for many, the pandemic it had started weeks ago. Exactly one month earlier, when the Mobile World Congress decided to cancel its 2020 edition after the mass flight of the large exhibitors for fear of covid contagion. the fall of iconic technology and mobile congresswhich had been held uninterruptedly for fourteen years in Barcelona, became the first big sign that this virus was also a national problem. Now, three years later, the return of the fair to the city no mask obligationcon almost the same number of exhibiting companies and 25% of asian public, closes, in the same way, the pandemic cycle. And he does it, moreover, with an edition that Government of Catalonialos Barcelona city councils there theHospitalet de Llobregat and the rest of the institutions involved in the Barcelona Fair will live with special affection: it is the first to be held after having agreed with the GSMAthe organizing company, that the congress stay here until at least 2030 and, if there is nothing to prevent it, permanently.
The congress starts this Monday, February 27, with an expected attendance of 80,000 people, a volume that implies increasing the figures of last year by 33%, but still remaining almost 30,000 visitors from what it received before the covid. It is practically the only thing that remains to be recovered from the dynamics of that time, because the number of exhibiting companies is practically the same (2,000 this year compared to 2,300 in 2019) and the audience diversity, also: although the mobility restrictions have been extended until very recently there, the CEO of the GSMA, John Hoffmanpointed out last Thursday that he expects a 25% Asian public and around 5,000 visitors coming directly from China.
He air trafficthe hotel occupancy and the preparations of the restaurant sector They also send a message back to normal. He Aena airport manager It has a special operation ready at El Prat Airport precisely in relation to the congress and has approximately 7,600 flights scheduled these days, 19% more than last year and only 600 less than in 2019. Guild of Hotels of Barcelona works with an occupancy forecast of between 90% and 95% in the city’s accommodation, a rate confirmed last week by the chain Sercotelwhich expects its accommodations in Barcelona to be full and 95% full in those in Cornellà, Sant Just Desvern y Sant’Boi.
In this sense, also Mercabarna companies that serve the network catering industry (Hotels, restaurants y coffee shops) have detected a demand similar to that of 2019 and point out as the only fear the possibility that the visitor spends less for the rising prices y their lower purchasing power, as well as the negative impact of the closure of the restaurant in the Port Olímpic. Still and all, the main supplier of fresh fruit and vegetables from Barcelona Fair already has more commissioned salads y fruit or vegetable pies than in the last precovid edition.
The Recovery Mobile
“We are convinced that it will definitely be the Mobile of recovery”, the president has assured several times these days. ‘counselor’ for Business and Labor of the Generalitat, Roger Torrent. “It is presented with exceptional expectations, something that we were all waiting for and wishing for,” the Mayor of Barcelona, There is Colau, which welcomes without hesitation that the congress has formalized the long-term relationship with the city. “This consolidates Barcelona as a great technological and innovation capital: we are achieving what we had always proposed with the mobile world capital foundationthat the congress was not just a congress”, he adds.
Colau is referring to the hundred multinational technology centers that have set up in Barcelona since the congress landed in 2006 or to the fact that the number of ‘startups’ in the city does not stop growing. But what the 2023 edition makes clear is that the road is round trip: the FC Barcelona opens this year a congress on sport and technology within the Mobile and the BEAT Barcelonathe area where the Mobile World Capital concentrates the cultural activities within the congress, is growing and will offer, apart from ‘afterworks‘ enlivened with musical repertoire of the Sonar or the crossroadsan immersive experience to live (virtually) a IZAL concert from above the stage or move to the old nightclub Maddox of Platja d’aro (Girona).
And all this, moreover, without a strike or on public transport, or in taxis and with carte blanche at VTC companies (Transportation Vehicle with Driver) as Uber o Cabify to operate without restrictions in the Catalan capital. Voluntary anomaly, in short, to guarantee the back to normal.