For more than 10 years, the expansion of Fira’s foreign business has been part of its strategy to contribute to the internationalisation of Catalan and Spanish companies and to extend its organisational experience around the world, positioning itself as one of the world’s leading trade fair operators. In this regard, the international editions of the Smart City Expo World Congress, as well as other leading trade fairs organised in Barcelona such as Alimentaria, Tomorrow.Mobility and IOT Solutions World Congress, stand out, exporting its model to other countries.
This internationalpresence offers intense activity in 2024. Thus, in this first half of the year, it has already held 6 events. Among the novelties, the first editions of Smart City Expo in New York City (United States) and Riyadh (SaudiArabia) stand out. The smart cities show has also been organised for the fifth time in Curitiba (Brazil), the largest so far, with the participation of more than 450 mayors, 50 countries and 16,800 visitors, and will travel next week for the fifth time to Argentina, to the city of Santiago del Estero, which will be hosting its third edition.
The second half of the year will begin with the Smart City Expo Latam Congress, one of the most consolidated events on Fira de Barcelona’s international calendar. It will be held for the ninth time in Mérida, Mexico. In parallel, the first edition of Tomorrow.Mobility, the exhibition on new sustainable urban mobility systems, will be held. Smart City Expo will also be organised again in Bogotá and Doha and will be held for the first time in Santiago de Chile and in the Chinese city of Hangzhou.
It is in Chengdu, China, that the first edition of Alimentaria will be held for the first time in this country next September. In Brazil, Fira is launching two new events, Tomorrow.Blue Economy, in December in the city of Niteroi, and IOT Solutions Congress, which took place in the first week of June in Sao Paulo. In addition, Fira continues to co-organise events annually on the island of Cuba and this year held the fourth edition of Alimentos Cuba.
The director of Fira de Barcelona, Constantí Serrallonga, assures that “the intense activity abroad this year reinforces our strategy and demonstrates the good reputation that Fira de Barcelona has in the world, as well as the great interest that its events arouse. Over ten years we have consolidated our international positioning with the aim of being useful to companies and helping to open up new markets and build bridges with countries with great dynamism and opportunities.“
“Fira exports trade fair knowledge, but also promotes innovation in key economic sectors for these countries.”
For his part, Ricard Zapatero, Director of International Business at Fira de Barcelona, highlighted “the premiere of new, high-quality events and the diversification of sectors presented, from food to technology, cities, future mobility and the blue economy. Fira exports trade fair knowledge, but also promotes innovation in key economic sectors for these countries.”
Another business area on the rise is the management of international exhibition centres. From 2021, Fira de Barcelona will operate two such centres in China through the Greenland-Fira joint venture, established with one of the world’s leading construction companies. These centres, the Xuzhou Greenland Huaihai International Expo Center and the Nanchang Greenland International Expo Center, together boast a total exhibition area of nearly 240,000 square metres. This year, they are scheduled to host a total of 66 events, including the 21st edition of the China Livestock Exhibition, which occupies 190,000 square metres of exhibition space at the Nanchang site, and the fourth International Intelligent Automobile and New Energy Exhibition at the Xuzhou facilities.
This international trajectory is further highlighted by the renewal of Fira de Barcelona’s membership on the Board of Directors of the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry (UFI), which brings together the world’s leading trade fair operators. Since January, and for a three-year term, Fira de Barcelona’s Director of International Business, Ricard Zapatero, has been a board member after receiving the support of the organisation’s members.
