BARCELONA, Spain – The next edition of Hostelco, the Spanish leading exhibition of equipment for the restaurant, hotel, and catering industries as well as one of the pioneers in this speciality in Europe, will be held from 17 to 20 May, 2021, together with the Alimentaria exhibition, strengthening the commitment to one of the largest international platforms for the food, catering, and hotel equipment industry.
The exhibition, which is organized by Fira de Barcelona in collaboration with the Spanish Federation of Associations of Equipment Manufacturers for the Hospitality and Related Industries (FELAC), will be held on a date agreed by people in the industry to respond to the request of major companies and associations with the aim of holding the best possible edition that contributes to the recovery of this industry.
The Organising Committee, made up of the leading associations and companies in the industry, has agreed on new dates for the event in order to achieve maximum participation, contribute to the economic recovery of the industry, join synergies with Alimentaria, and consolidate a major trade show platform that, in the previous edition held at Fira de Barcelona’s Gran Via exhibition centre, was attended by 4,500 companies and 150,000 professionals (25% of people from abroad).
This decision is supported by the industry and its major associations, such as FELAC, the Spanish Exporting Manufacturers Association for the Hospitality Industry (AFEHC), the Spanish Confederation of Hotels and Tourist Accommodation (CEHAT), the Hotel Technology Institute (ITH), the Spanish Hotel and Catering Business Confederation (CEHE), and the Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade (ICEX), among others, which consider that the new dates and the alliance with Alimentaria provide the most appropriate framework to consolidate Hostelco as a key tool for promoting the competitiveness of hotels, restaurants, communities, and foodservice in a context that calls for economic recovery.
Rafael Olmos, President of Hostelco and FELAC, highlights that the event will help hotels, restaurants, and communities revitalise their business at a particularly complex time “in which the exhibition aims to provide the industry with full support, making the most of synergies with food and gastronomy as well as committing to new technologies, digitalisation, sustainability, and personalised experiences. In this difficult time, we want to contribute to the recovery of the business pace prior to the pandemic, both nationally and internationally,” he affirms.
In addition, J. Antonio Valls, Managing Director at Alimentaria Exhibitions, states that ‘in May 2021, Hostelco and Alimentaria will once again hold a great event together, supported by the industry, to show both the distribution and the Horeca channel the most complete and cross-disciplinary offer in the gastronomy and hospitality world. Hostelco will foster the reactivation of the equipment market and exports and will promote new business models with the aim of energizing an industry that has been particularly affected by the health crisis”.
Hostelco and Restaurama
Hostelco will present a new distribution of its offer that will be directly connected to Restaurama (food services for out-of-home consumption) at the Alimentaria exhibition to facilitate the visit of professionals from the Horeca channel. This offer will be integrated by the Fully Equipped area, where equipment and machinery companies for the hotel and catering industry will exhibit; the Setting area, which is dedicated to household and tableware services; the Atmosphere area, which offers items for interior design, decoration, lighting, furniture, contract, wellness, hygiene, and cleaning, and the Moments area, which offers products, equipment, and accessories for coffee and tea, bakery and pastry, pizza, and ice cream. Besides, the Tech area, which offers technological services and solutions targeted at entertainment and customer satisfaction, and the Everywhere area, for which transport, delivery, vending, and service firms will exhibit, will be strengthened.
The event will implement an anti-Covid protocol that Fira de Barcelona has developed in collaboration with Aon, a specialist risk management consultancy, following the advice of the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona in order to ensure maximum safety guarantees for workers, organisers, exhibitors, visitors, and suppliers.
New FHG Forum in September
Although the forum will be held in May 2021, Hostelco will maintain direct contact with the industry over the coming months in order to address future challenges, especially at this particularly difficult time. Therefore, on 28 and 29 September, the Food & Hospitality, Tourism and Gastronomy Forum (FHG), will be held at the Palacio de Congresos in the Fira de Barcelona’s Montjuïc exhibition centre. Under the slogan “Rethinking the future”, the forum will highlight the strategic role that the agrifood, gastronomy, hotel and catering, and tourism industries play in the current situation and will also address possible means for economic recovery.
The FHG Forum, which will have a hybrid, face-to-face, and virtual format, will be structured in three major themes: Restaurant, Foodservice and Agri-food Production, Hospitality, Communities and Tourism, and Retail, Large-scale Food Distribution and Value Chain. All of them are key industries for the Spanish economy due to their contribution to the GDP and are widely represented by the leading Alimentaria, Hostelco and Gastronomic Forum Exhibitions.
