Fira de Barcelona, a Spanish trade show institution, has announced its debut on the Chinese trade show market by taking over the management of two international venues.
The institution will be managing Xuzhou Greenland Huaihai International Expo Center and Nanchang Greenland International Expo Center in partnership with construction company Greenland – Fira.
Having previously co-organised several events in China and on the Asian continent, Fira will now be responsible for the commercial, technical, logistical and operational management of the venues which have a total exhibition area of around 240,000 m².
The two venues have planned to organise up to 40 events over the year. June’s International Motor Trade Fair in Nanchang will be their first following the outbreak of Covid-19 in China.
Other upcoming trade shows cover a variety of sectors, including:
- The Laboratory Equipment and Material Exhibition
- The National Traditional Chinese Medicine Exhibition and Conference
- The International Exhibition of Communications and Electronics Industry
- The National Education Equipment and Technology Fair
Growing the venues
The Xuzhou exhibition centre, which will open at the end of 2021, has 66,000 m² of exhibition space and is expected to grow to 136,000 m² in future phases.
The venue is expected to host around 15 trade fairs, which will cover new technologies in the automotive industry and urban mobility, machine tools, medical equipment and health technologies, and security and emergency equipment.
Ricard Zapatero, director of international business at Fira de Barcelona, said: "The management of the two international venues consolidates Fira in China’s market.”
“Moreover, we are embarking on this journey at a crucial time when trade fairs are being revived across the country."
The Greenland-Fira joint venture is also designing a new venue of more than 100,000 m² in Shangqiu, which is expected to be operational from 2024. Located in the east of the country. The city was selected for its recent significant growth in population to over 7.8 million.
Global opportunities
Fira’s overseas activity includes the organisation of 11 trade shows in various countries around the world in 2022. The leaders of this activity have included the external editions of the Smart City Expo World Congress, and the events co-organised by Fira with the Palco Business Group in Havana, Cuba.
Additionally, Fira has announced several new projects, including co-organising events and the management of venues worldwide. Regarding their new projects, Fira stated that internationalisation is crucial to its global organisational strategy.
