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From 13 to 16 October, innovation, sustainability and new wellness experiences based on the common denominator of water will be flooding Piscina & Wellness Barcelona: 287 exhibitors – 13% more than in 2013 – representing a total of 449 companies. The show’s growth mirrors the recovery of the sector, which in the first half of the year has seen sales rise by 8%. The show will feature the latest materials, equipment, technologies, products and services for swimming pools, wellness and spa centres and sports and recreational facilities. At the same time, it will offer many more training, informative and networking spaces to boost the sector that moves more than 1,000 million euros a year in Spain.

Organized by Fira de Barcelona in collaboration with the Spanish Association of Pool Sector Professionals (ASOFAP), the show – which will occupy an area of 13,800 sq. m in Hall 2 of the Gran Via Exhibition Centre – brings together exhibitors from 26 different countries. After Spain, the biggest country represented is China followed by France, the United Kingdom, the United States, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Turkey. In this respect, the show retains one of its key hallmarks: its international scope, with 62% of its exhibitors coming from foreign markets. The show also attracts a large number of foreign trade professionals, representing over 35% of its visitors.

According to the president of the Organizing Committee of Piscina & Wellness Barcelona, Eloi Planes: “The show’s international scope is one of its cornerstones in terms of both promoting exports and international business relations and sharing experiences and know-how with trade professionals from different countries.” For this reason, throughout the show there will be numerous business meetings between exhibitors and foreign visitors as well as business rounds with hosted buyers – specially invited by the show – from over 15 countries, mainly Europe and America, but also China, India, Israel, Kazakhstan, South Africa and Angola. Moreover, this year’s guest country is Morocco, which is bringing a delegation of several companies involved in the wellbeing sector as well as professionals from the tourist industry.

This year, Wellness is the star of the show. Not only has it been added to the exhibition’s name but its presence in the exhibition offering and the activities has increased by 15%.

One of the big new features at this year’s show is the recreation of a fully-operational wellness centre, designed and equipped with state-of-the-art facilities. It will include an active built-in swimming pool and solutions provided by exhibitors at the show, including cosmetics, textiles, food, fragrances and decorations. This ground-breaking space, known as the Wellness Experience, aims to arouse all the senses while inspiring business ideas. “Visitors can see, touch, learn about and experiment with the  materials, equipment, products and services and incorporate them in their own wellness ventures. As an example of a profitable, eco-friendly, sustainable wellness centre that targets the preferences of the new consumer, it provides a real-life demonstration of the latest innovations in wellness featured at the show,” explains Josep Jonàs, Piscina & Wellness Barcelona’s director. To complement this space, the Swiss consultant and former general manager of Caldea, Gérard André, will be answering questions and providing personalized advice to visitors on this type of business.

Simultaneously, on 14 and 15 October, the show is hosting the second edition of the Wellness & Spa Event, a series of conferences on the trends and opportunities available in the wellness industry. These conferences, which are open to all visitors to the show, will be given by some 30 international experts, including Jeremy McCarthy, Group Director of Spa for Mandarin Oriental and regarded as one of the world’s leading wellness gurus. This event includes a number of networking spaces among delegates and speakers to foster experience exchange and explore the areas of discussion in greater depth. On 13 and 16 October there will be seminars on health and wellbeing based on water and on trends in wellness marketing to boost sales, along with examples of genuine success stories.

The show is also launching an Innovation Zone this year, a cross-cutting space that will turn the show into a major hub for the sector hub , different areas on internationalization, financing, technology (Internet of Things) entrepreneurship, networking and innovation. It will include interviews and business meetings with international buyers, advice on financing and marketing from ICF and PIMEC experts, and a series of presentations and conferences. There will also be sessions for learning about start-ups, enlarging your network of business contacts and finding partners. There will also be an area for displaying the trade fair’s most innovative products and services, together with a speaker corner where selected companies will give technical presentations. In addition, from 15 October onwards, the products and facilities that have won the 2015 Piscina & Wellness Awards and their European counterparts, the EUSA Awards, will be exhibited, with an award-giving ceremony hosted by the exhibition.

Piscina & Wellness Barcelona will also host lectures and seminars, including the second edition of the Waterpark Symposium, in partnership with the European Waterpark Association (EWA) and the World Waterpark Association (WWA), which will address the safety regulations and efficient management of recreational facilities in water parks, hotels and campsites. Meanwhile, ASOFAP is organizing three technical training talks for swimming pool installers and point-of-purchase professionals to help increase sales.

The future of the sector calls for innovation and the integration of high added-value products with a focus on improving users’ experience of swimming pools. Aquatic facilities must be sustainable, convenient, easy to maintain and more closely associated with wellbeing. The show will be presenting solutions and equipment geared towards achieving a lower environmental impact and reducing water and energy consumption so users appreciate the financial savings they offer in pool maintenance, amortizing the cost of installing these innovations. As well as the use of more natural products to guarantee water quality, standout trends include the automation of processes, especially smart systems to manage the maintenance of swimming pools and aquatic facilities via the internet and mobile devices.

The swimming pool sector in Spain is already witnessing recovery after the crisis years and expects to end 2015 with increased sales of close to 10%. With a national stock of some 1.16 million swimming pools to maintain, the Spanish market – the second largest in Europe and fourth in the world – represents a great opportunity for companies in this segment. Another opportunity is the generalized investments that the hotel industry is making to update its establishments, aquatic facilities and wellness spaces and the irrefutable bond between the swimming pool and wellness world and tourism, health, leisure, wellbeing and sport.