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 05.03.2025

Grand-scale events: economic benefits and other impacts

During the first week of March, around 100,000 visitors arrived in Barcelona to attend the annual Mobile World Congress (MWC 2025).

Any event with a high concentration of people leaves a significant footprint on the place where it is held. Events such as large music festivals and concerts, major football matches or massive sporting events, trade fairs and congresses provide significant economic benefits, direct and indirect, in the territory where they take place, but they also have environmental and social impacts.

In the case of the MWC, for years the organisation has had a programme to manage and minimise negative effects in key areas of its activity: energy; production and waste; food and drinking water; logistics; travel and accommodation.

Along these lines, MWC Barcelona has been operating the “Donation room” platform for 10 years, which manages donations of materials used during the congress. In 2024, over the course of six days, tables, cabinets, chairs and household items such as lamps, dishes, trash cans, etc. were collected and distributed. The action prevented 5 tonnes of almost new materials from becoming waste, and many social organisations benefited.