The last fourteenth version of Hostelco, International Exhibition of Equipment for Hotels, Restaurants and Collectivities, held in October 2008 in Barcelona, Spain, was consolidated as one of the most outstanding events in this country, as it had 990 exhibitors, 2010 brands represented, 82,326 professional visitors and 60,125 m2 of exhibition. For both attendees and exhibitors, the event met their expectations and met the needs of the visitor with a high valuation in the aspects of quality, quantity and variety of the offer.
In this version, the show obtained a score of 4 out of 5, continuing the constant trend of acceptance, recognition and success that it has presented during the last four editions.
For visitors the number of exhibitors was very good, obtaining a rating of 4.13 out of 5; regarding the quality of the same, the participants rated it 4.14 also out of 5.
Due to the high offer of exhibitors, activities and technical conferences, 93 percent of attendees highlight that Hostelco has improved by 5 percent compared to the 2006 edition. This 93% of visitors show interest and intention to return to the show in the next edition.
This year the event presented attendees with equipment and machinery for the hospitality industry; tableware and table service; management, control, IT and security; textiles and uniforms; furniture and decoration, in addition, four spaces were given a special role: Expolimp, dedicated to professional cleaning; Coffee area, with the most complete offer of products and services; Intervending, with the most innovative proposals of automatic distribution and Food Service, food sector for the Horeca channel (Hospitality, Restaurants and Catering).
According to the analysis carried out by Fira de Barcelona, one of the organizing entities of Hostelco, visitors come to the show to learn about the news of the sector, make professional contacts, and decide or make purchases. Mostly men between 30 and 50 years old from Catalonia (55%), another part of Spain (30%), Europe and the rest of the world (15%). Despite the preponderance of men in the total number of visitors, the percentage of women has increased by 4.1% reaching 37.5% of the total.
Likewise, the professionals who visited the salon highlight the quality of the contacts above the quantity of them, which received a score of 3 out of 5. It is worth noting that this version attracted a significant number of new visitors, equivalent to 32 percent of the total, which shows an increase in the number of foreign participants.
Also in Hostelco 2008 the second edition of the European Pizza Championship was held, where he obtained the first place in the category of classic pizza Giuliano Bucci (La Fattoria – Rocca Raso), in the classifications width of dough and speed, the winner was Salvatore Salviani (Pizzeria l'Angolo – Laniglirano), in terms of acrobatics or Freestyle, Antonio Martos (L'albero Pizzeria's - Málaga) proved to be the best.
For its part, the third National Barista Championship awarded the first prize to Javier García, from Irún (Euskadi); and the fourth Window Cleaner Contest was won by Elvira Ignacio (Emlicodemsa).
