The promotion of innovation based on achieving more sustainable, efficient and personalised products focused on improving users' quality of life will constitute the axis of this year's Piscina & Wellness Barcelona, the event organised by Fira de Barcelona in partnership with the ASOFAP (Spanish Association of Swimming Pool Professionals), the employers' association for the sector. The fair will bring together more than 350 brands from the sector, over half of them from abroad, to showcase the value chain of pool products for residential and public use, as well as facilities, equipment and accessories related to wellness, spas, fitness and exterior design.
Innovation at the service of sustainability and quality of life lie at the heart of Piscina & Wellness Barcelona
The 26th Piscina & Wellness Barcelona fair, the most international event on the European calendar in its speciality, will be held from 29 November to 2 December 2021, bringing together practically all the leading domestic and international companies from the sector at the Gran Via venue. The event will showcase the latest products and innovative and eco-efficient technologies and solutions to improve sustainability, control, maintenance automation and user experience, in which health and well-being are being increasingly taken into account.
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"Innovation is the driving force of this industry, which has withstood the crisis generated by the pandemic, thanks chiefly to the maintenance and renovation of the existing stock of pools. Investment in R&D&I continues to focus on digitisation and sustainability in order to increase the well-being of the users of aquatic facilities, who'll be able to enjoy an increasingly wide array of personalised experiences", declared Eloi Planes, the president of the fair and Fluidra's executive chairman.
The fair, which will occupy 30,000 gross square metres of Halls 4 and 5 at the Gran Via venue, will be divided into five areas: the commercial exhibition, with the brands' proposals, the Innovation Zone, with the most innovative products presented by the companies attending the event, Wellness Experience, which will consist of the recreation of a full wellness centre, and a Congress and Seminar Area, bringing together the different initiatives related to the popularisation of contents and reflection. The Outdoor Living space, to be set up by the fair for the first time, will be devoted to the decoration of outdoor spaces.
A highly international nature
The event will feature around 200 exhibitors representing more than 350 brands, 60% of which are foreign ones from 23 countries, mainly France, Turkey, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Italy, the USA and the Czech Republic. They include some of the most important firms in the sector, including Action Park, Espa, Fluidra, Hayward, Piscinas Condal, Productos QP, Renolit, Rosa Gres and SCP, among many others.
The visitors will also have a highly international character, with around 40% of them coming from 61 countries, mainly in Europe and the Mediterranean area. These are professionals with high purchasing power, as well as manufacturers, distributors, builders, installers and prescribers from different fields, including architects, engineers, interior designers and consultants.
Due to the total number of swimming pools (the second largest in Europe and the fourth largest in the world), the Spanish market offers business opportunities for the renovation, maintenance and equipping of residential aquatic facilities. The rising demand for products and services for public swimming pools and recreational aquatic facilities and for wellness and spas is also a major attraction.
Challenges and solutions
Similarly, the fair will hold technical seminars to present proposals and solutions for the challenges posed by end customers and demand sectors (hotels, campsites, resorts, wellness centres, spas, thalassotherapy centres, sports facilities, gyms, medical centres, local administrations, residents' communities, etc.). Success stories will also be presented by the players in question (suppliers, builders and representatives of user sectors and end customers), which will thus serve as examples and inspiration for potential customers.
The fair will also host the 5th Aquatic Leisure Symposium, with the participation of around twenty experts from the sector as speakers, who will reflect on safety, innovation and sustainable development in the area of aquatic leisure.
In this regard, the fair will organise different events with the aim of highlighting and visualising the positive impact generated by innovation in aquatic facilities, spaces and projects. Thus, the Pool & Wellness Awards, the Wellness Experience Awards and the International Competition for Architecture Students will acknowledge projects and products that excel in the implementation of solutions contributing to well-being, health and the community.
Towards zero impact
Ratifying its commitment to sustainability, Piscina & Wellness Barcelona applies the rules of the "Towards zero impact" initiative to increase the efficient use of resources. The project is based on the three axes of the action plan for the Circular Economy approved by the European Commission to generate less waste: use fewer materials, reuse and recycle products and throw away less food.
Within this context, at the end of this year's fair, approximately 200 m3 of water from the pools at the commercial exhibition will be delivered to L'Hospitalet de Llobregat Town Council, which will reuse it to clean some streets in the municipality.
Under an agreement with the AECNC, the Business Association of Swimming Clubs of Catalonia, the fair will also donate the 4,200 tubular floats set to decorate the Wellness Experience centre to 35 entities, including the Atlètic-Barceloneta, Sabadell, Sant Andreu and Terrassa Swimming Clubs. All these initiatives will meet the need to "raise awareness of the importance of recycling and extending the life of the materials we use in order to cause the least negative impact on the environment", stated Ángel Celorrio, the fair's director.
