The GSMA is very serious about Barcelona. If a few weeks ago it announced an extension of the agreement that kept the celebration of the Mobile World Congress in the city until at least 2030, now they go up a level. The technological event stays in Barcelona permanently.
“Until 2030 and beyond or forever“, he has explained Mats Granryd, CEO of the GSMA. It is a formalization of the announcement that took place a few weeks ago, the same one that removed doubts about the future of the event and the expiration of the contracts that the GSMA and Barcelona maintained until at least 2025. After 16 years of meetings in the region, there was a good chance that the Mobile World Congress would move to another big European city. It was something that Barcelona wanted to prevent. With 5,400 million euros of economic impact and 140,000 employees generated during the time it is celebrated, it was too strong a contract to be rejected.
The agreement is born, therefore, “with a vocation of permanence”. One that seems to be ensured with automatic renewals that avoid the long renegotiations of the agreements to hold the Mobile World Congress.
The signed document points to “a model to establish a permanent headquarters” in Barcelona. At least from 2030, when the contracts already established expire.
Will the event survive beyond 2030? There are not a few who point out that the events of the Mobile World Congress have lost the shine of a few years ago. Brands have long since stopped making big announcements under the roof of the event. With a mass meeting, the news is usually diluted in the mass. This is why the big technology companies have spaced out their big launches so as not to coincide with the event.
On the other hand, the pandemic has been decisive in reducing the figures of the Mobile World Congress. With a 2019 that closed with resounding success, it turned into a canceled 2020 and a 2021 that barely received attention or coverage. 2022 upped the ante a bit: 60,000 attendees and €240 billion in economic impact. We will have to wait, however, for what 2023 has to say in an edition that is promised free of Covid.
A permanence of the Mobile World Congress with conditions
With this, a series of commitments are sought from Barcelona as “permanent headquarters”. On the one hand, the expansion of the venue that houses the annual meeting. The Fira de Gran Via de L’Hospitalet will have to be expanded and finished in 2026. Sustainability projects are added to make the event a green meeting and, in addition, the expansion of the Montjuïc headquarters.
The agreement for the permanent headquarters of the Mobile World Congress also adds a sensitive point for Ada Colau’s policy in Barcelona: the hotel offer available. They must guarantee 25,000 beds and hotel accommodation in the city. As well as improving the security provisions that the city allocates to the celebration of the Mobile World Congress.