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SPAIN – OPTIMISM AT THE AEVEA EVENT IN BARCELONA
“The MICE industry: challenges and opportunities” was the topic addressed by attendees at the event organized by AEVEA in collaboration with the Barcelona Convention Bureau at the Torre Glòries venue in Barcelona. The session featured Miquel Rodríguez, Manager of Economic Promotion at the Barcelona City Council; Luis Gandiaga, President of Foro MICE; Christoph Tessmar, Director of the Barcelona Convention Bureau; and Mariano Rodríguez, President of AEVEA.
Strength and dynamism of the MICE sector
During the meeting, Mariano Rodríguez discussed data from the latest AEVEA Pulse 2024 study, which analyzes behavior and trends in Spain’s corporate events and MICE sector, all pointing to the market’s strength and dynamism: nearly 65% of agencies rated 2024 as a good or excellent year, while 80% of respondents consider it better or much better than the previous year.
Some figures that confirm the optimism
- Growth is increasingly spread out: 16% of agencies exceed €20M in annual revenue, 19% are between €10–20M, 22% between €5–10M, and 27% between €2–5M.
- More than 50% of agencies expect to increase their business volume.
- As for the most active sectors, pharmaceuticals leads with 62.2%, followed by automotive (56.8%), food & beverage (43.2%), sports (35.1%), and tourism (32.4%).
A moment of transformation and acceleration
Speakers agreed that the sector is experiencing a phase of transformation and acceleration, with sustainability, talent attraction and retention, and professionalization as major challenges. They also underlined the strategic role of events as an economic and social driver and as a magnet for investment in the city. They addressed the need to obtain data and establish measurement processes to strengthen knowledge of MICE as an industry.
€20 billion direct impact and €40 billion indirect impact
Foro MICE explained how the report on the industry’s economic weight was developed, showing a direct impact of over €20 billion and an indirect impact of over €40 billion.
The event also focused on key issues such as aligning city strategy with strategic sectors, creating more agile regulatory frameworks, and decentralizing events into new urban spaces.
AEVEA’s session concluded with an announcement from Barcelona City Council and the Convention Bureau of the renewal of the MICE Fund, to be presented shortly: Barcelona Fácil, the Investment Office, designed to drive the key topics described.