Thousands of visitors open the tourist season at Fira de Barcelona’s show
B-Travel 2024 certifies the full recovery of tourism activity
Fira de Barcelona’s tourism show, B-Travel, which closes its doors this afternoon after an intense weekend, has shown that the reactivation of tourism is a fact. The event, held in Hall 8 of the Montjuïc venue with a total of 129 exhibitors, caught the interest of thousands of travellers who were able to find or book their next holiday or getaway, in one of the best editions of recent years.
A few hours before its closing, the B-Travel organisers estimate that the show was attended by more than 26,000 visitors, exceeding the 2023 edition figures and thus contributing to the recovery of the Tourism industry, a key sector for the country’s economy. Local Catalan destinations and autonomous communities such as Aragon, Andalusia, Cantabria, the Canary Islands, Galicia, Extremadura, La Rioja and Murcia were the most popular, as well as Bilbao-Bizkaia, who debuted this year.
On the international scene, Ceará-Brazil, Cuba, Croatia, France, Portugal, the Dominican Republic and Tanzania were the main protagonists, while the 45 agencies specialising in other destinations such as Argentina, Brazil, Chile, the United States, Greece, the Maldives, Kenya, Madagascar and Vietnam also received many visitors. The presence of cruise operators’ stands including the Celebrity Cruises, Crucemundo, Cruceros Australis, Hurtigruten, MSC Cruceros, Royal Caribbean Cruises, Trasmed-Grimaldi Lines and Unicorn Ponant also generated a lot of interest from visitors.
The President of B-Travel, Martí Sarrate, said that “B-Travel continues to grow and arouse the interest of exhibitors and visitors, consolidating itself as the sector’s benchmark commercial platform“. Sarrate also pointed out that “this year’s edition is proof that the tourism sector has been able to fully recover, thanks to its commitment to innovation, digitalisation and deseasonalisation in order to achieve higher quality tourism”.
For her part, the event’s director, Marta Serra, explained that “B-Travel is also an online platform that presents the offers and promotions of the show’s exhibitors throughout the year, enabling visitors to travel all year round to almost anywhere in the world at any time, thus helping to boost the process of deseasonalisation of tourism activity”.
One of the busiest areas was B-Delicious Fest, B-Travel’s food and wine event which, under the production of the Associació de Gastronomía i Turisme del Baix Llobregat (AGT), presented a wide range of dishes made with local products, serving a total of 5,000 tastings. In addition, more than 900 people took part in the B-Travel Passport gymkhana with prizes worth 5,000 euros, and the Cine Travel Forum documentary film series, coordinated by journalist and film director Jordi Llompart, was attended by over 400 spectators.
Professional programme
In addition to being the major tourism fair for the end consumer, B-Travel is also establishing itself as an event for industry professionals. In this sense, more than 1,200 people have been registered in the activities for sector agents, including the Barcelona Activa Job Market Place, in which eight companies met with a hundred candidates seeking employment; the third edition of the ACAVe Travel Market of the Corporate Association of Specialised Travel Agencies (ACAVe); the third Universal and Accessible Tourism Conference; the announcement of the names of the ten municipalities aspiring to become the Capital of Rural Tourism in 2024 and the B-Industrial professional conferences.
The next edition of B-Travel will take place from March 28th to 30th, 2025.