MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) has been conceived as a special tool for reactivating the post-pandemic economy and launching new support initiatives for one of the sectors with the most important economic impacts and return for the city. This type of tourism is also linked to a non-seasonal visitor profile, where activity is not concentrated into certain months of the year, and a more decentralised type of tourist activity.

The goal of the programme is to provide support for congresses and events linked to strategic economic sectors and fields for the city, such as digital technology, the creative industries, the local economy, 4.0 industry, life sciences, the green and circular economy, commerce, logistics, the visitor economy, talent, digital activity and others which can be considered of special interest for the city.

The different proposals will be assessed by a technical committee made up of: the Barcelona Convention Bureau, the Barcelona Tourism Consortium, the directorates for Tourism and Promotion of the City, Fira de Barcelona, Barcelona de Serveis Municipals and the Barcelona Hotel Guild.

Good positioning and a significant impact

The city ranks fourth in the world as an organiser of congresses and is the highest-ranked city which is not a state capital. It has ranked in the top five for the last twenty years running, according to the classification by the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA).

Data from the Barcelona Convention Bureau for 2019 show that congress and convention tourism generates around 1,900 million euros a year for Barcelona, with spending 52% more than that of visitors who come to the city for holidays or leisure, according to the Barcelona Tourism Observatory.