SPANISH CONFERENCES

With Barcelona in a seemingly unassailable position as one of Europe’s most beloved cities,
and Madrid and Valencia both shimmying up the league of desirable destinations, it seems
like high times for Spain as far as conference and incentive appeal goes.
The Catalan capital is a confirmed

favourite for corporate groups, with Pfizer, Shell, IBM, HSBC, Barclays Capital, Deloitte and Moores Rowland among the groups to have recently have held events in the city.

NEW FACILITIES
The new Fira de Barcelona just been completed (it offers 215,000 sqm of exhibition space, which will grow to 260,000 sqm by 2010), but by 2009, Barcelona airport will have a new terminal, doubling its international flight capacity. Hotels opening within the year include the 260-room Sky Habitat and the 136-room Mandarin Oriental – and, in a move that will benefit both Barcelona and Madrid, a high-speed rail ink will be in operation from December this year,
eventually linking into France’s system.

There are even hints that Barcelona may become a victim of its own success. Maritz project manager Pia Zeyss is a confirmed fan of the Hotel Arts: “As you’d expect from a Ritz-
Carlton property, the service is exceptional.”

But for Anne Noyce, service liaison manager for Revlon International, the accommodation offer in the city doesn’t work. “In Barcelona, it is really difficult to find hotels at short notice and there is a definite shortage of reasonably priced fourstar, city-centre hotels.”

Meanwhile, the Spanish capital is winning new fans, among them Campden Publishing
marketing and event manager Elizabeth Yareham. “I recently held a small meeting in
Madrid and found it very hospitable,” she says. “We used the Novotel in Campo de Las
Naciones for the meeting. It had excellent business facilities and even though we were a
very small affair, they treated us very well.”

NEW FACILITIES
A Beckham-less Madrid is relying on general promotional activity for its conference and
incentive business, but new properties such as the designer Sol Melia ME and large-scale
congress facilities, such as IFEMA and the forthcoming ICC, keep the capital near the top of the Spanish city league.

Among the people pitching Madrid are Lisa Suter, managing director of venue-finder
Acorn2Oak. “I often put small groups there when Madrid and Barcelona are playing, send
them to the match and then leave them to enjoy the city,” she says.

According to Spanish Tourist Office conference and incentive executive Valentina Beteta, cities such as Seville and Bilbao are slowly gaining popularity but are still operating very much in a niche market.

“They tend to appeal only to those who know Spain really well,” she says.
Bilbao Convention Bureau director Kepa Olabarrieta agrees in part. “We are far from Madrid or Barcelona, mainly due to the difference in the number of flights available.”

However, he has every confidence in the city’s conference facilities. “We have the Palacio Euskalduna, which heralded best conference centre in the world in 2003, and the brand new conference section at the Bilbao Exhibition Centre.”

But with the Spanish Tourist Office changing its focus from shows such as International Confex – preferring instead to arrange intensive tours of the cities for events planners and to run fam trips throughout the year – Spain’s top cities look to be keeping their ‘galactico’ status as C&I destinations for now.