Eduardo López-Puertas Bitaubé, General Manager, IFEMA • Interview
As an organizer of some of the biggest professional fairs in Europe, IFEMA is expanding its global reach and helping Madrid grab a bigger slice of the global MICE market.
Can you give us an overview of IFEMA?
IFEMA was established 40 years ago in Madrid in 1979. Previously, only Barcelona, Bilbao, Zaragoza, and Valencia could organize events such as exhibitions. There was a strong interest from the Chamber of Commerce in Madrid to build an events space. The following year, we held our first exhibition in an old building. Today, IFEMA is the undisputed leader in its sector. Indeed, 52% of the international exhibitions in Spain are held at IFEMA. Strategically, these international events are important. At present, we are working on our growth, but have not yet begun our expansion plans. In 2018, we did 117 fairs and over 700 events. We are organizers of some of the biggest professional fairs in Europe, such as Fitur or Fruit Attraction. We also organize other public events, such as concerts and pop culture exhibitions. We want to widen our portfolio, so we are working on hosting sporting events like Madrid Horse Week. We want to diversify because 75% of our revenue comes from internal organization of events. We are also working internationally to export leading brands to other countries. For example, we held Fruit Attraction festivals in Shanghai and Egypt, and ARCO, the International Contemporary Art Fair, in Lisbon. We have also prioritized the Latin American market, organizing events in Chile, Colombia, Peru, and Mexico.
What is the distribution of your client portfolio, and what is your economic contribution?
We started doing public events two years ago. Professional events make up 85% of our portfolio. Now we are doing concerts. We have a special agreement with Mad Cool. We need to focus on the summer season to bring more business. We contribute a great deal in terms of labor; over 20,000 jobs were created in 2018. IFEMA attracts 3.6 million people every year, and in 2019, we expect to reach 4 million. We are increasing the number of international visitors. This is important because they spend more than locals. We also attend exhibitions abroad to expand our reach.
What makes Spain, in particular Madrid, attractive for the MICE sector?
Madrid undoubtedly has an advantage over any other European city with its climate, food, culture, and people. The average tourist’s expenditure in Madrid is much higher than other regions that depend on beach tourism. IFEMA Madrid is three minutes away from the airport and 10 minutes from the city center via metro. We try to involve MICE attendees. It is important for presidents of the region to participate in these events. We are trying to further open Madrid for MICE events. Madrid has great potential, and public officials are working to improve the city’s brand internationally. Our big advantage is sports. The last four Champions League finals featured two teams from Madrid. The city government holds 31% of our shares, the regional government holds another 31%, and the remainder is held by the private sector, represented by the Chamber of Commerce and a foundation. After the airport, IFEMA is the region’s second-biggest engine for growth. The shareholders see IFEMA as a good tool to extend Madrid’s brand and attract international tourists, especially in the MICE segment. I built a strategic plan to double the size of IFEMA in five years. We are currently overachieving that target. We are currently carrying out a transformation plan. One example is the expansion of the Valdebebas Campus.
We will be working on two big projects to make IFEMA more international. We will also work on widening our portfolio of products. We see a variety of new things that can be done at the Congress Palace. We are planning to build other new products that will be released in 2020. All of our events are different, and this is our key differentiator. ✖
“After the airport, IFEMA is the region’s second-biggest engine for growth.”