Europe’s largest gay and lesbian event ‘Circuit Festival’ begins in Barcelona for the 6th consecutive year

Barcelona (ACN).- The largest gay and lesbian event Europe has begun in Barcelona and will bring together an astonishing 70,000 visitors from 50 countries around the world. ‘Circuit Festival’ is considered Europe’s leading gay and lesbian cultural and recreational event and will take place between the 8^th and 18^th of August. There is a wide variety of attractions on offer such as: exhibitions, sports events (yoga, volleyball tournament, fitness sessions, etc.), talks, cinema, tours of the city, club nights, as well as discounts in selected shops and salons. The highlight of the event is the water park day which is the biggest open air lesbian and gay party in Europe and is a huge party experience with guests able to enjoy chill out areas throughout the day, and fireworks and world famous DJs performing later in the evening until the small hours of the morning. Event organisers have estimated that of the 70,000 visitors to the festival, 70% come from abroad and they will spend a total of €100 million. The average visitor to Circuit Festival will stay in the Catalan capital for seven days and have a daily expenditure of €250. During the event  60 DJs will perform, among which will be some of the most prominent in the international gay and lesbian scene. There will be dozens of open air parties in numerous gay-friendly clubs around the city, and the event is set to confirm Barcelona’s status as a capital of the global gay and lesbian scene.

Circuit Festival has created 30 permanent jobs as well as 600 temporary contracts for the duration of the event. The organisers emphasise it represents a “powerful tourist attraction” which brings together thousands of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender tourists. Barcelona is rapidly becoming increasingly popular among the gay and lesbian population and is one of the main gay-friendly cities at international level. As well as the ‘Circuit Festival’, the city is also hosting other activities throughout the year linked to the gay and lesbian community. For example, in June, the Mediterranean’s biggest gay pride parade took place with city centre streets filled with floats and performers. Furthermore, this October, Barcelona will also host the International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, which will celebrate its 13^th edition.

Barcelona hosts many large-scale events

Circuit Festival is just one of Barcelona’s numerous large-scale events that take place throughout the year. So far this year the city has already hosted music festivals such as world renowned Sònar electronic music festival (with 121,000 attendees) and Primavera Sound (more than 150,000 visitors), bringing music fans from all over the world to Barcelona to enjoy live music by artists such as: Blur, Pet Shop Boys and Kraftwerk. These are only some examples of large-scale cultural and party events taking place in the Catalan capital, but they highlight the infrastructural capacity and the popularity of the city for domestic as well as foreign visitors.

Barcelona, a main international meeting point

Barcelona is the most visited city in Spain and the fourth most popular in Europe. Furthermore, it is the fourth largest destination for cruise ships in the world (with the top three being in Florida). The city is also a meeting point for the business community, organising large-scale trade fairs and congresses. The main of on the list is the world’s largest mobile phone industry exhibition, the Mobile World Congress. This year’s event attracted 72,000 visitors from 200 countries and  placed Barcelona at the heart of the information and technology sector, starting to becoming the world capital of the mobile industry on its own right.