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A decent 2009 for congresses, not for conventions, in Barcelona

A decent 2009 for congresses, not for conventions, in Barcelona

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The Barcelona Convention Bureau (BCB) has published its analysis of 2009. It confirms what we have seen in recent months: the congress market has withstood the storm (+0.7% in delegates), but the corporate sector has been bleeding (-37.3%). Good news: 2010 looks better.

“The year 2009 has been hard for the meetings industry, including in Spain of course,” says the director of the BCB, Airy Garrigosa. The lessons learned include the following:

– Strength of the association sector (+0.7% of attendees), which confirms it is more predictable and less cyclical than the corporate one. Interestingly, the number of events fell by 25%, but they were larger.

– The difficulty of the corporate sector (-37.7% of attendees), which is explained by reductions in budgets, and the tendency to organise events closer to home (for cost or image reasons).

– In terms of sectors, medical congresses confirm their weight (33%), followed by scientific ones (22%) and technological (12%).

– In terms of geographical origins, despite the acute crisis that it went through, the United Kingdom continues to lead with 24% of the total, followed by the USA (18.5%).

Taking optimism Garrigosa Airy adds that “this 2010 looks better, with many RFPs, although in general very short term

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