Ifema Madrid slams the door on the coronavirus pandemic and advances on the path of recovering pre-Covid figures. In 2022, a record year for the fair institution closed in which the activity figures confirmed the recovery of the pulse after the health crisis, with the celebration of more than fifty events, 70% more than the previous year.
A year in which both the activity figures and those of registered exhibitors and visitors were exceeded in 2021 than in 2021, and it received 3.7 million visitors, 40.8% more than a year earlier.
In detail, Ifema Madrid held 512 events throughout the year, which implies 70% more than in 2021, when they held 301, although far from the pre-pandemic figures. Thus, although years like 2017 are close, it is far from the number of events organized in 2018 and 2019, with 720 and 898 respectively.
Of these, 56 were own fairs, five of the schools were projects abroad, while the remaining 30 were external. In addition, it organized 16 congresses with exhibitions, twice as many as in 2021, 18% of the total and 8%, external fairs.
To all this were added 21 concerts and long-term events and another 389 professional and leisure events, in addition to another 28 events on the LIVE Connect digital platform, all of them of a hybrid nature. By areas of activity, professional fairs related to consumer goods (45%) stand out, followed by investment goods (40%), those linked to the public (36%) and services (15%).
The net area occupied by its own fairs was 598,278 square meters, 43% of the total, and that associated with external fairs, 367,347 square meters, 26%. In addition, direct exhibitors reached 17,079 and international participation increased by 33.1% at own fairs.
As an exceptional event this 2022, Ifema Madrid organized the NATO Summit, held on June 29 and 30, commissioned by the Government of Spain. A job with more than 1,200 people involved for which the trade fair institution recently received the Silver Emporia Award in the “Best Construction for an Event” category.
most relevant fairs
In detail, it stands out in events such as the International Tourism Fair, Fitur, with 111,193 attendees, to which were added the participants in the digital call through LIVE Connect, which were more than 33,200. Hand in hand with 600 main exhibitors and the official representation of 70 countries, this event had an impact on the Madrid economy estimated at 150 million.
Education Week, in the first half of March, had more than 117,000 visitors, who had the opportunity to learn about the offer presented by 275 companies, institutions and entities from up to 24 countries, while 40 (+1) ARCOmadrid’s anniversary, which returned to its usual dates, exceeded the global figure of 75,000 visitors.
The joint call for the lifestyle sector also played a leading role, with more than 650 companies participating in the Intergift, Bisutex, Madridjoya and Momad trade shows, which received more than 31,000 professionals. In this case, highlight the progress in the internationalization of the fairs, with professionals and exhibitors from more than 77 countries, and the extra value provided by the spaces for presentations and conferences.
Likewise, the 75th edition of the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Madrid recovered similar figures to before the pandemic, with more than 50,000 attendees, a figure similar to the balance of Vive la Moto, which brought together nearly 41,000 visitors, 120 exhibitors and 500 marks.
In this 2022, in addition, Ifema Madrid presented new fair projects such as Global Mobility Call, supported by the Government, the Community and the City Council, which seeks to lead the transformation process towards sustainable mobility; Helixa Summit, focused on investigating the opportunities of the metaverse for the growth of the business sector; o Accountex Spain, the new event specialized in the digitization of the administrative and accounting processes of advisors, law firms and SMEs.
In its objective of attracting major international events, the fair institution organized for the first time ‘World Dog Show’, the world’s largest competition for dog breeders, where more than 55,000 people and 16,500 breed specimens participated.
The return of international congresses
Last year’s balance sheet also highlighted the return of international congresses (Meetings, Incentives, Conferencing and Exhibitions –MICE–) to Ifema Madrid, which led the ranking worldwide with the holding of 10 calls, highlighting congresses such as Heart Failure Congress, of the European Society of Cardiology (4,000 attendees), or World ATM Congress, the largest air navigation event (7,000 attendees), among others.
Thus, the institution has continued the recovery of the sector that began in the second half of 2021 and has maintained its commitment to face-to-face international conferences. In this way, the Fairgrounds and the Municipal Palace have hosted the celebration of a dozen large congresses, concentrated mainly in the first half of the year and which have brought together nearly 20,000 professionals from different sectors.
Within this framework, the institution has achieved its third recognition as the Best Convention Center in Europe and Spain at the World MICE Awards, awards that confirm the excellence of operators and fair and congress venues from around the world based on the vote of professors national organizations and specialized media in the MICE sector.
Within the objective of diversifying its offer, Ifema Madrid has also opted for the organization of cultural and leisure events, with a balance of 21 shows, musicals and exhibitions throughout 2022 that registered 1.1 million visitors. In 2022 Ifema Madrid also participated in five fair projects abroad, including ‘Gamery Argentina’, with more than 50,000 attendees and a streaming following of more than 210,000 people, or ‘Gamery México’, which brought together more than 56,000 .
Also, ‘ARCOlisboa’, which received a total of 11,000 people, ‘Motortec Chile’, which brought together more than 3,000 professionals and 80 brands from 10 countries, or the ‘Salón Look Santiago de Chile’, which brought together more than 10,000 visitors and a centenary of brands. Likewise, he co-organized the ‘Genera Mexico Day’. In total, these events received 130,000 visitors.
