Having been recognised as the best in the business by voters at the World MICE Awards, Breaking Travel News here chats to Eduardo López-Puertas, general director at the IFEMA Feria de Madrid, to find out more about the prestigious honour

Breaking Travel News: Congratulations on your victory at the World MICE Awards, where IFEMA Feria de Madrid took the title of World’s Best Convention Centre. How does it feel to have won?

Eduardo López-Puertas: We are very proud to receive this award and very excited to keep moving forward with our strategy of the past few years, deploying all our values and assets to compete internationally to bring ever larger congresses and events to IFEMA.

This strategy is also based on excellent spaces and high-quality services.

BTN: How useful will the award be in promoting the activities of IFEMA Feria de Madrid to a global MICE audience?

ELP: For IFEMA to receive an award that accredits it as the best convention centre in the world is clearly a seal of quality that vindicates its promotion strategy, strengthens the confidence of our clients and greatly stimulates our international visibility.

It is also an acknowledgement of what being in Madrid means in terms of its infrastructure: connections, hotels, culture, and commercial and culinary appeal.

BTN: The events sector has been among the hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. Does news of a vaccine boost confidence the market can return to something like normal as we move into 2021?

ELP: Obviously, the hopeful news about the imminent distribution of Covid-19 vaccines will boost our industry, one that has been especially affected by the strict measures limiting mobility and social gatherings.

I am convinced that in a couple of months we will be back in business.

The market needs movement, and fairs and events are a major driver of the economy for companies and industries, and for the cities that host them.

That is why it is vital that we bounce back with renewed energy, technologically rearmed and more digitised than ever before, to offer events with even greater quality and diversity of services, and more profitability for our clients.

BTN: What changes can guests expect to see if they visit an event in Madrid over the next few months, in order to protect their health?

ELP: Since March we have worked hard and invested in drawing up protocols and adapting our venues to make them safe spaces.

We have incorporated a variety of measures from body temperature control systems to capacity control equipment and heat measurement to avoid crowding, health and distancing measures, entry systems using digitised registration, and constant air renewal equipment, among other measures to ensure the health of our participants.

More Information

IFEMA has have a very clear objective, to be a place to connect.

To connect interests, challenges, concerns, knowledge, hobbies and passions.

To do this, they have been designing environments for 40 years in which people, companies and society meet and share interests and challenges.

In 2018, more than 700 fairs, congresses and leisure events were organised.

Find out more on the official website.