Barcelona Meeting Overcome the Crisis

Wednesday, 12 November 2008

Enrique Lacalle, Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the International Real Estate Show and Symposium Barcelona Meeting Point, organized by El Consorcio de la Zona Franca de Barcelona, considers that the twelfth edition of BMP, “has overcome the crisis, surpassing all the pessimistic expectations. We have made our city, once again, Europe’s real estate capital in Autumn, we’ve had professionals from 55 countries, we have hosted a Professional Exhibition with a 75% internationalization, we have equalled the visiting professionals’ participation to that of 2007, already a record, we have carried out a great Symposium with 131 speakers, we have brought over investors, which is what our exhibitors from all over the world demanded from us. Panama, as our guest country, has been a success in participation and business deals, just like Sâo Paulo, where we will probably carry out next 2009 our Brazil Meeting Point. We’ve had a larger than ever participation of national and international authorities and, what is more important, we have enabled that our exhibitors, from the Professional as well as from the General Attendance Exhibition, made contacts and sales (as they can confirm). Lastly, despite the moment, Barcelona Meeting Point has proved to be a very useful Show for the industry and profitable for those participating in it, and, thus, it will take place again next Autumn turning Barcelona again into the world’s real estate capital. The participation figures are impressive: SYMPOSIUM FIGURES • Symposium Participants 2,475 • Speakers 131 • Symposium Sessions 43 EXHIBITION HALL FIGURES • Professional visitors 22,010 • Professional visitors and General Attendance 130,000 • Exhibiting companies 423 • Participating companies 8,725 • National companies 60% • International companies 40% • Exhibiting countries 23 • Participating countries 55 • Registered national journalists 549 • Registered international journalists 171 Enrique Lacalle says the BMP’2008 figures confirm the exhibition, which has occupied halls number 1, 5 and 8 as the first Real Estate Exhibition in Spain, the only professional and international one and a point of reference in the European real estate industry, and confirm the slogan that says: “BMP has proved to be the meeting place for the European and Latin American real estate industry Enrique Lacalle points out that the 13th edition of BMP will take place from the 3rd to the 8th of November, 2009.. Although it is very difficult to make an exact calculation, in the duration of BMP’2008 “the estimate turnover of the real estate deals carried out by the exhibitors between the General Attendance and the Professional exhibition may exceed the 2,000 million euros, to be specified in the next months with a great growth in the international real estate transactions, specially Panama and Brazil”. Lastly, Enrique Lacalle would like to highlight several aspects of BMP’2008: • First, the overall satisfaction of exhibitors, professionals, Symposium attendees, and national and international attendance. • Second, BMP’2008 has contributed to the hotel booking in the city due to its both national and international attendance, which created business for the city of Barcelona in all industries: restaurants, commerce, leisure, etc. • Third, the high design and quality level of the stands, being the Exhibition with highest investment in stand construction. • Fourth, the great level of parallel activities and events organized around BMP 2008 (more than a 150). • Fifth, its international profile with 75% of the occupancy being international companies in the Professional Show. • Sixth, the large attendance of local, autonomic and state professionals and institutions, national and international. • Seventh, the success of the initiatives “Panama, Guest Country” and “Sâo Paulo, Guest City”.