The Fira de Barcelona B-Travel tourism show hopes to exceed pre-covid figures and exceed 30,000 visitors in its edition this year, in which it will have 129 direct exhibitors, 21% more than in 2022.
With the motto 'Where your journey begins', B-Travel, which takes place between March 15 and 17, kicks off the tourism campaign at the gates of Holy Week and brings together more than 650 brands in an edition with more national and international destinations.
The president of B-Travel and vice president of the Corporate Association of Specialized Travel Agencies (ACAVE), Martí Sarrate, has assured that they hope to exceed the visitor numbers of 2019, when 30,000 people were registered.
Sarrate has made a "call for optimism", despite the context we are experiencing, with inflation, rising costs, wars or climate change. He explained that Catalonia represents 24% of Spain's outbound and inbound tourism and that the sector has shown great resilience against covid.
The director of B-Travel, Marta Serra, has highlighted the "substantial leap" in this year's edition, with a 21% growth in the number of exhibitors and an "important" international representation, with more than 45 travel agencies. present, from countries such as Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Albania, Japan, Iceland or Vietnam.
On the international level, countries such as Brazil, Cuba, Croatia, USA, Dominican Republic, Tanzania and regions of France or Portugal will also be present. Practically all of the autonomous communities will also participate in the event, which this edition recovers the cruise operator sector.
The restaurant industry will once again be present at the show with B-Delicious Fest, which will put the emphasis on kilometer zero products, just like documentary film, since every afternoon a film will be shown after which a debate will open on environmental issues and social.
The show also has a professional space with the aim of facilitating business relations during its celebration and, among other things, the Barcelona Activa B-Travel Job Market Place will be held to connect companies and people looking for work.
The general director of Tourism of the Generalitat, Marta Domènech, has highlighted that the first visitor that Catalonia has is the Catalan itself and has assured that the community stand will host a simulator of the Sailing America's Cup, which is being held this year. year in Barcelona, in addition to presenting different proposals, such as the nine sustainable tourism routes.
Domènech highlighted that the show is held just before Easter and said that last year Catalans made 13 million trips in Catalonia with an expenditure of more than 2,000 million.
Regarding the drought, Domènech has assured that, for the moment, they have not detected any concern on the part of tourists and Sarrate has added that the agencies are not registering cancellations either.
