BARCELONA – The Mobile World Congress 2021 will take place from June 28 to July 1 in Barcelona. According to GSMA, organiser of the world’s largest telephony show, the Barcelona edition will be face-to-face.
80% of companies confirmed
GSMA CEO John Hoffman has said that 80% of companies have already confirmed their presence. He expects 40,000 to 50,000 visitors to Barcelona by the end of June 2021. In 2019 the tech fair attracted more than 100,000 visitors. However, the 2020 edition was cancelled due to the emerging coronavirus.
The newspaper El Periódico writes that all bodies involved in the organisation of MWC, the Spanish government, the Generalitat of Catalonia, the municipality of Barcelona and the Fira, where the congress is held, are supporting it on the dates indicated and in the safest way.
Obligatory PCR-test
The organisation is not yet certain about the arrival of all exhibitors and visitors due to the uncertainty about the evolution of the pandemic. But one thing is clear: all attendees will have to be able to submit a negative PCR test. “As many airports and airlines already have similar policies, we are confident that all participants will be more than willing to comply,” GSMA said in a press release.
Hoffman explains that the Mobile World Congress celebrations will take place in Shanghai at the end of February. This will be the litmus test of health protocols for the celebration of the big event in Barcelona.
The 2020 edition of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona was the first major event in Spain to be cancelled due to the corona virus. A fact that highlighted the seriousness of the virus and its spread around the world from an early stage. Hoffman is confident that cancelling the event last year was ‘the right decision’. “Some 100,000 people from 200 countries were planning to come to Barcelona. So we are sure we saved lives by cancelling the fair,” said the organiser of the Mobile World Congress.
