The study included an in-depth analysis of each of the 50 provinces in Spain, as well as the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla.
The students taking part in the Congress and Event Organization Master Programme (MOCE), organized by Seville’s EUSA University Campus, have conducted a study involving the identification of all those congress centres, exhibition centres, auditoria, hotels equipped with function rooms, and other venues with the capacity to host meetings in theatre format for a minimum of 500 people. The aim of the study has been to identify and calculate the number of venues currently existing in Spain suitable for staging congresses or events with over 500 delegates.
The principle conclusion that can be drawn from the study is that Spain currently has 383 venues capable of hosting congresses and events with over 500 attendees. Andalusia is the region with the largest number of venues (72), followed closely by Catalonia (70), and Madrid (49). The rest of Spain’s regions are ranked as follows: Castile and Leon (33), Galicia (30), Valencia (29), Castile La Mancha (19), Canary Islands (18), Basque Country (13), Extremadura (10), Murcia (8), Aragon (8), Asturias (8), Balearic Islands (5), Cantabria (5), Ceuta and Melilla (3), La Rioja (2), and Navarre (1).
As regards the type of venue, the study’s findings are as follows: congress and exhibition centres (72), auditoria (42), hotels (156), universities belonging to OCUE (14), and miscellaneous venues (99). The miscellaneous venue category includes theatres, function rooms, country estates, haciendas, and theme parks, among others.
This study has highlighted the fact that Spain has one of the largest selections of meeting and event venues in the world, but has also stressed the need for a joint effort by all the stakeholders in the industry to create a product differentiation marketing strategy, based on value added, which allows Spain to consolidate its leading position with regard to its most direct competitors.
Seville’s EUSA University Campus began to renovate its Congress and Event Organization Master Programme (MOCE) in 2011, whose teaching staff constitutes its value-added differentiating factor as regards similar master programmes offered by other higher-education institutions in Spain.
