Alimentaria food and drinks trade show to welcome 100,000 visitors

The Alimentaria food and drinks trade show returns to Barcelona from April 4 to 7 for the first time since its last edition, held in 2018, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Organizers expect to receive up to 100,000 visitors and fill up the majority of Fira de Gran Via exhibition center pavilions.

The trade show had been postponed three different times because of the virus, as it was originally scheduled for March 2020, postponed to September 2020, only to be rescheduled again to May 2021, before finally settling on its current April 2022 date.

Alimentaria is organized biennially at the Catalan capital, as the event is held in Spain’s Madrid capital in the years between.

"Alimentaria will have a significant contribution to Barcelona Fira, but mainly for the economy and for those sectors affected because of the Covid-19, such as restaurants, hotels, and tourism," José Luis Bonet, Alimentaria president, said at a press conference on Thursday. 

The show is "fundamental" to the sector which is a "symbol" of the country, he added. 

Among main innovations, the food and drinks trade show will focus on reducing food waste, sustainability, or the increase of vegetal proteins that have a bigger weight on consumers' diets. Visitors will also be able to have wine tastings at the Barcelona Wine Week fair in Montjuïc's congress halls. 

Two congresses in one

The congress held in Barcelona is in fact, two different events combined together, as Alimentaria partnered with Hostelco hotel and restaurant trade show some years ago.

Both events will host up to 3,000 different businesses, 400 of them international, and welcome 100,000 visitors of 52 nationalities, except those coming from Russia and China.

Russian exhibitors will not travel to Catalonia because of the conflict with Ukraine, while Chinese businessmen will stay in Asia because of the recent increase of Covid-19 cases. 

The expected economic impact of the fair will be up to €180 million, and the exhibition comes at a tense time for food supply chains because of the truck drivers' strike.

Organizers are optimistic that, despite the situation, they will yield similar figures to those reached during the last fair held before the pandemic.