Summary
          
        
        
          18 | 19
        
        
          à
        
        
          In 2014, Fira
        
        
          de Barcelona hosted
        
        
          major international
        
        
          shows that are
        
        
          references in their
        
        
          respective sectors.
        
        
          The year 2014 was, generally speaking, still
        
        
          largely influenced by the effects of the economic
        
        
          crisis, through certain indicators showed some
        
        
          improvement, an incipient recovery of activity
        
        
          and signs of greater confidence in the future
        
        
          and the prospects of overcoming a situation
        
        
          has hit large sectors of the population and
        
        
          the economic fabric of the country very hard,
        
        
          especially the self-employed and small and
        
        
          medium-sized enterprises.
        
        
          Within this context, Fira de Barcelona
        
        
          continued to pursue its commitment to
        
        
          innovation, internationalisation and knowledge
        
        
          and to playing the role of economic driving
        
        
          force, supporting the activities of entrepreneurs,
        
        
          companies and the production system in
        
        
          Barcelona, Catalonia and Spain generally.
        
        
          Record-breaking results
        
        
          Over the course of the year in question
        
        
          in this report, the organisation achieved
        
        
          outstanding results thanks to its strategy and
        
        
          the combination of several factors, such as
        
        
          better positioning and performance by shows
        
        
          organised directly by Fira de Barcelona; greater
        
        
          internationalisation, attracting major events
        
        
          and increasing activities abroad; the
        
        
          diversification of activities with a wide range
        
        
          of services and a clear policy of cost
        
        
          containment and resource optimisation.