The Malaga Tradeshow and Congress Centre (FYCMA) has closed the financial year with record figures.
The Malaga Tradeshow and Congress Centre has ended 2010 with record results as regards congresses, confirming the city as one of Spain’s top destinations and the centre as one of the country’s best corporate event venues.
This is supported by the fact that 64,183 people have attended congresses, conventions or seminars during 2010, up 73% with respect to 2009. Likewise, average attendance figures have practically doubled from 445 in 2009 to 867 in 2010.
Besides this increase in attendance figures, congress activity has had a greater impact on the city as can be seen by the fact that, for the first time since opening, 55% of the events hosted by the centre have been of a national or international nature, while the number of regional events has dropped.
So, congress attendance figures and the average duration of events – which in 2010 was 2.41 days – are determining factors in the impact that this sector has on the city. It is estimated that the induced economic impact of congress activity was in the region of EUR 68.9 million, up 48% from the year before. Delegate spending can be classified in the following way: accommodation (26.95%), totaling EUR 39.1 million; meals (11.9%), representing EUR 17.2 million; local transport (3.77%), totaling EUR 5.4 million; shopping (5.68%), representing EUR 8.2 million; and leisure (3.67%), totaling EUR 5.3 million, according to average statistics published by the Spain Convention Bureau and applied to the case of Malaga.
It is also worth mentioning that the number of congresses is the same as in 2009, totaling 17, although there was a larger turnover in 2010. The centre hosted a greater number of conventions, while the number of other types of events remained the same. In percentage terms, the average turnover per event increased by 35% in 2010, with respect to 2009, which confirms the upward trend as regards the number of congress and average delegate spending.
In short, FYCMA has consolidated its position as a congress venue in 2010, which although marked by economic problems in general, has been a positive year for the local meetings and event industry and in terms of its impact on the city.
Previsions for 2011
To date, seven important national and international congresses have been confirmed, all with over 1,000 delegates. With eight – one of which being European – medical conventions are the most numerous.
The Malaga Tradeshow and Congress Centre is still working in collaboration with the Malaga Convention Bureau to attract events in 2011 and the future. In fact, in the region of 100 bids have been submitted for hosting congresses scheduled for 2011, and it is hoped that a number of them will be confirmed in the next few months.
