The GSMA announced this Monday an agreement to extend the celebration of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona until at least 2030. The contract in force until now ended in 2024, so this extension extends the celebration of said event for six more years in the Spanish city.
The recurring transport strikes, various political events, the pandemic… Whenever an obstacle has emerged, the continuity of the fair in Barcelona has been questioned. This announcement, however, shows the commitment of the organization (GSMA) both with the authorities involved and with the site itself.
The Mobile World Congress was held for the first time in Barcelona in 2006. When the recently announced contract ends, the fair will have been held a total of 23 times in the city –24 if the 2020 edition had been held, canceled due to the pandemic. A permanence that, although it is not unbreakable, reflects the strong bond between Barcelona and the Mobile World Congress.
For the city, this announcement is undoubtedly beneficial. The celebration of the fair not only attracts more than 100,000 people each year, it also has a notable economic impact during the last weeks of February and the first weeks of March. According to data from Statisticalthe 2019 edition – the last one held before the pandemic – had an impact of close to 500 million euros.
“Recent global circumstances have created some of the most difficult challenges we have had to face with MWC,” said Mats Granryd, GSMA Director General in a statement. The executive, however, highlighted the solidity with which Barcelona has worked so that the fair continues normally after what happened in 2020. “In fact, Barcelona is so intertwined with the MWC experience that it is difficult for me to think of one and not in the other,” he concluded.
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