Mobile World Congress aims to rediscover pre-pandemic numbers in an edition focusing on drought measures.
Many of those present expressed surprise at reports warning of a crisis due to water shortages in Catalonia.
If the 2023 Mobile World Congress (MWC) cemented the recovery from the pandemic crisis, there was a sense on this year’s opening day that it could end with figures similar to those of pre-2020. Not so much because of the attendance, which according to the organizers’ official forecasts is still a step below six figures (95,000, although they do not rule out it being higher), but because of the impact that the fair will have on Barcelona and its capital . region.
Last September, CEO GSMA, John Hoffman, estimated the economic impact of the latest congress at 461 million euros, an amount that takes into account annual activity and not just the days on which the show was held. These numbers are close to 2019, which reached 473 million. Booking overnight stays at full capacity hotelier and 95% in tourist apartments, billing forecasts for the restaurant and nightclub sector (€105 million) and data El Prat Airportwith a 2% increase in flights and travelers compared to five years ago, is a quantum leap, reflecting increased footfall on the exhibition floor, where the number of Asian visitors has increased compared to previous exhibitions.
Many of them, also from the United States or Northern Europe, did not hide their surprise at messages that from screens at fairgrounds warned of the drought afflicting Catalonia. The goal is to consume water “more consciously,” the GSMA CEO said a few days ago: Mats Granrid. Swedish director of the organizing association IEC admits that for a congressman coming from countries like his, the problem is completely “unknown.”
With the entry into the drought emergency phase, according to the decree Generalitat a month ago, Barcelona Fair took additional measures to those already in place since 2020, such as stopping the supply of decorative fountains, removing drinking fountains located throughout the pavilions, or installing filter aerators at all taps. And, as the giant screen installed opposite the main entrance shows, “every drop counts.”