Once again Piscina & Wellness Barcelona brings the sector together, focusing on innovation and confirming the upsurge in the market

The pool sector is enjoying one of its most successful periods, with an expanding market that demands innovation and equipment to make aquatic facilities more sustainable, experiential and easier to maintain. This was evident at Piscina & Wellness Barcelona, which, after four days of intense commercial activity at the stands, closed its doors today at Fira de Barcelona’s Gran Via venue after bringing together more than 10,000 visitors in a mood of general satisfaction.

This year’s Piscina & Wellness Barcelona constituted an in-person reunion for the Spanish sector despite the pandemic and contributed to generating purchase orders and raising awareness of the latest developments throughout the pool and spa product value chain, with the participation of 208 exhibitors from 23 countries and more than 350 brands on display. Once again, the event organised by Fira de Barcelona in partnership with the ASOFAP employers’ association has confirmed its leadership as a flagship trade fair in Spain and reaffirmed its position as the most international European event in the sector.

The climate of uncertainty generated by the evolution of the pandemic didn’t have a significant impact on the flow of visitors, who, confirming the forecasts, exceeded 10,000, almost half of them from abroad, chiefly from European countries such as France, Italy, Belgium and Germany and the Mediterranean area.

Eloi Planes, the president of Piscina & Wellness Barcelona and Fluidra’s chief executive, expressed his satisfaction with the success of the event, adapted to the current economic situation: “Once again, the event has proven to be an effective commercial and networking platform that’s capable of bringing together the entire sector. It’s been a special year, a reunion, which has confirmed the good business prospects lying ahead of the pool industry, one that’s expanded significantly during the pandemic. Planes also stressed the event’s commitment to bringing people together and featuring the latest innovations and market trends, which “has been key to the attractiveness of this year’s event and will be even more so on future occasions, as visitors want to see, touch and understand the most cutting-edge aquatic solutions on the market”.

Popularity of the activities
One of the event’s focal points was the Wellness Experience, the recreation of a wellness centre with a heated swimming pool, saunas, showers, a fitness area and treatment booths. Demonstrations of aquatic therapies and other treatments related to health, relaxation and well-being were held there. Visitors were able to learn more about the design and the equipment and services required for a facility of this kind to ensure that it’s functional, profitable and sustainable. Similarly, other areas that attracted large numbers of visitors were the Innovation Zone, where the latest products for a smart, connected, sustainable and healthy pool were exhibited and explained, and the new Outdoor Living area, where several companies showcased their ranges of designer furniture and accessories for outdoor decoration.

As for meetings, Piscina & Wellness Barcelona also hosted different seminars, talks and round tables with a total of 50 speakers. We should highlight the sessions of the innovation programme, designed to present success stories applicable to innovative aquatic solutions to create new value propositions and improve the user experience in relation to well-being, health and the creation of inclusive spaces for the community. The 5th Aquatic Leisure Symposium, focusing on sustainable development and the safety of facilities, the third Piscina & Wellness Latin America-Europe business encounter to promote corporate meetings and the sessions organised by different entities from the sector were also widely attended.

Special mention should be made of the ceremony for the presentation of the Piscina & Wellness Barcelona Awards, the Wellness Experience Awards and the International Architecture Competition for students, the three competitions organised by the event that brought together over 300 people at a gala dinner on the first day, during which tribute was paid to the career of Joan Planes, the president of the Fluidra Foundation. The event also included the presentation of the EUSA 2021 Awards organised by the European Federation of Business Associations in the sector.

Sustainable Event
Once again Piscina & Wellness Barcelona joined the “Towards zero impact” initiative, with the aim of reducing the generation of the event by means of the use of fewer materials, reusing and recycling products and materials and avoiding food waste. We should point out that this year the tubular foam floats used for the setting of the Wellness Experience will be donated to 35 swimming clubs in Catalonia and the water that has filled the pools on show at the event will be delivered to the Town Council of L’Hospitalet de Llobregat for it to be reused for the cleaning of some of the streets in the municipality.

The next Piscina & Wellness Barcelona will be held from 28 November to 1 December 2023 at Fira Barcelona’s Gran Via venue.

Barcelona, 2 December, 2021

Images available here

Mª Gloria Dilluvio / Maria Dolors Herranz
Tel. +34 93 233 21 72 – 25 41
gdilluvio@firabarcelona.com / mdherranz@firabarcelona.com