Fira de Barcelona
          
        
        
          | 2014 Report
        
        
          
            Hostelco
          
        
        
          International Hotel, Restaurant and Community Equipment Show
        
        
          
            20-23/October
          
        
        
          Gran Via. 17th edition
        
        
          The latest edition of Hostelco consolidated the
        
        
          high level of internationalisation of an event
        
        
          at which new areas and numerous activities
        
        
          were launched to showcase new business
        
        
          opportunities, the latest technologies applied to
        
        
          the catering industry and the most innovative
        
        
          formats for professionals in the sector. For
        
        
          the first time, moreover, Hostelco took place
        
        
          simultaneously with the Gastronomic and
        
        
          Bar Forum to form Barcelona Hosting Week,
        
        
          a great platform for the industry that embraces
        
        
          the whole value chain, from equipment to
        
        
          product processing.
        
        
          A total of 518 companies took part in
        
        
          the show, 25% of them foreign, from 33
        
        
          countries, and more than 1,200 brands were
        
        
          represented. To these impressive numbers
        
        
          should also be added the quality of visitors,
        
        
          who included more than 600 VIP buyers,
        
        
          selected amongst the personnel and managers
        
        
          with the greatest purchasing potential, half
        
        
          of them international, particularly from
        
        
          North Africa, the Gulf countries, the United
        
        
          States, Canada, Latin America and European
        
        
          markets. In total, this first Barcelona Week
        
        
          Hosting attracted some 57,000 visitors,
        
        
          15% of them foreign, from more than one
        
        
          hundred countries.
        
        
          Concerned, as ever, with educational
        
        
          aspects, Hostelco included a series of activities,
        
        
          such as the Hospitality Business Event, which
        
        
          included a programme of some 20 talks by
        
        
          50 leading national and international experts
        
        
          on the them of hotel management, catering,
        
        
          fitness, exports and security. According to
        
        
          these speakers, the future of the industry will
        
        
          be marked by such aspects as specialisation
        
        
          in premium or low cost services, capacity
        
        
          to adapt to customer needs and adoption
        
        
          of new business models. In the hotel trade,
        
        
          the keys to the market will be technological
        
        
          innovation, user experience and differentiation
        
        
          
            Area
          
        
        
          77.600 m
        
        
          2
        
        
          
            Exhibitors
          
        
        
          500
        
        
          
            Type
          
        
        
          Professional
        
        
          
            Activities
          
        
        
          Business meetings,
        
        
          demonstrations,
        
        
          championships
        
        
          
            Organised by
          
        
        
          Fira de Barcelona and
        
        
          Federación Española
        
        
          de Asociaciones de
        
        
          Fabricantes de Maquinaria
        
        
          para Hostelería,
        
        
          Colectividades e Industrias
        
        
          Afines (FELAC) in
        
        
          cooperation with the
        
        
          Federación Española de
        
        
          Hostelería (FEHR)