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The two sectors estimate that holding the congress will have an impact of 25% on their economy of the 240 million expected in this edition.
The industry of restoration and the night leisure expect to invoice €60 million during the celebration of Mobile World Congress (MWC)an income that, although it is only half of those achieved in 2019They are waiting impatiently to improve balance sheets that have been hit hard by the two years of the pandemic. The restaurateurs and managers of entertainment venues in Barcelona and its area of influence thus foresee concentrate 25% of the economic impact that the Mobile will have in its edition of this yearwhich will take place from February 28 to March 3and which has been set at regarding €240 million.
The employers’ association Fecasarm (Catalan Federation of Associations of Restoration and Musical Activities) provides that each of the 60,000 attendees that are expected for the MWC spend regarding 1,000 euros in the four days the duration of the event and the weekend before, when many begin to arrive in the city wanting to enjoy it. The 60 million who trust to invoice are half of the 117 million that the sector entered in 2019, the last pre-pandemic year, and in which Mobile reached 107,000 attendees, a record figure.
Similar to the 2018 edition
Skipping the comparison with the edition of 2021when the contest had a hybrid format that physically concentrated some 20,000 peoplethese 60 million is a figure similar to that billed in 2018when the Emma storm caused some snowfall and prevented the congressmen from leaving the hotels to eat and drink.
After two difficult years due to the impact of the restrictions for contain the spread of coronavirus, the restaurant and nightlife sector now has its hopes of recovery pinned on the congressmen of Mobile, with high purchasing power and among whom there are many senior managers. Many venues have already begun to receive requests for large groups or for the rental of exclusive rooms, steps that were not seen in 2021 and that invite optimism.
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In addition, the congress will start just following the week of carnival celebrations, with which the businessmen predict “a very complete week”, as explained to EFE by the general secretary of the Fecasarm employers’ association, Joaquim Boadas. “In that week we can reach triple billing of a typical week”, he anticipates, a turnover that is concentrated in 80% in the center of Barcelona and 20% in the surroundings of the Fira de L’Hospitalet de Llobregat.
In fact, Boadas assures that the sector is already “one hundred percent active”, since “citizens have taken to the streets to enjoy themselves following the restrictions”, which is making the turnover now even higher than the of the pre-pandemic stage. This level of activity has meant that practically all workers have been reinstated who continued to be affected by FOR HIM (temporary employment regulation file) and to consider the need to recruit more employees, regarding 5,000 to deal with Mobile. Given this scenario, the restaurant and nightlife sector is also optimistic regarding the Easter season