In 2025, Spain hosted 472 trade shows, with 64,236 exhibiting companies and 6.8 million visitors, according to the Spanish Trade Fairs Association (AFE). The sector contributed €6.9 billion to GDP and supported 124,400 direct and indirect jobs. And the trend is still upward. Fira de Barcelona closed 2025 with record revenue of €350 million, 17% more than the year before. Worldwide, 44% of exhibition organisers expect activity to grow by more than 5% in 2026, according to the latest barometer from UFI, the global association of the exhibition industry.
More shows and more exhibitors also mean more competition for the best spaces, for suppliers and for visitors’ attention. That’s why November, when many companies finalise next year’s budgets, is a key moment. Shows planned now get better space options, more time to design and produce the booth, and tighter budgets. Shows decided in February arrive in a rush, with whatever is left.
At Fairplay we support companies across very different sectors with their trade show presence every year, and we always see the same pattern: a show’s success starts months earlier, in a spreadsheet and a conversation about priorities.
1. Choose fewer shows, but better ones
With more than 64,000 exhibitors a year in Spain, being at a show no longer guarantees you’ll be seen. The temptation is to be everywhere, but spreading the budget across many small shows usually delivers worse results than concentrating it on one or two key events, well prepared, where your clients actually are.
To decide, review this year’s shows with data in hand: how many qualified leads each one generated, how many opportunities it opened and what each lead cost. With that on the table, the conversation changes. It’s no longer “we’ve always gone”, but where it makes sense to invest. It’s also a chance to spot new or international shows where your sector is growing.
2. The first quarter comes sooner than you think
The 2027 calendar starts strong. FITUR, at IFEMA Madrid, runs from 20 to 24 January, and MWC Barcelona from 1 to 4 March. Many sector shows in Barcelona, Madrid and across Spain join them in the first months of the year.
For any show between January and March, the booth has to be designed and produced in November and December, right as the year closes and the holidays arrive. If you have a first-quarter show and haven’t started yet, now is the time. Design, approval, production and coordination with the venue take weeks, and suppliers’ diaries fill up at peak times.
3. How to split the budget
Floor space is only part of the cost, even if it’s the largest. According to the annual survey by US-based Exhibitor magazine, an industry reference, the average exhibitor budget breaks down like this:
- Space: 32%
- Staff travel and accommodation: 14%
- Venue services (power, connectivity, cleaning…): 14%
- Booth shipping: 12%
- Graphic design and production: 9%
- Promotion: 7%
- Booth design and construction: 5%
- Other: 7%
What stands out most is how little goes to promotion: just 7%. And that’s exactly where things often go wrong. A spectacular booth nobody has been invited to delivers far less than a simple one with a schedule of meetings booked in advance. Invitations, press work, photography and video aren’t extras. They’re what makes the rest of the investment pay off.
4. Think about the year, not each show
Shipping, build-up and venue services take a significant share of the budget at every show. If you’re attending several, treat them as a programme rather than one-off events. A modular booth, designed to adapt to different sizes and layouts, lets you reuse structure, furniture and graphics from one show to the next. The savings are real, and your brand always looks consistent.
The same goes for communication: an annual plan lets you prepare launches in good time, coordinate relationships with trade media and use the content from each show to promote the next.
5. Decide now how you’ll measure success
This is one of the industry’s weak spots. A survey by Exhibitor magazine found that fewer than 47% of exhibiting companies track the leads they collect at trade shows. Without that data, it’s impossible to know whether a show paid off.
Before finalising the budget, agree internally on what will count as success at each show: meetings, qualified leads, orders, press coverage. Setting it now means that at year end, your review is based on data rather than impressions. And it’s the best foundation for deciding your 2028 shows.
Your trade show programme, with one team
At Fairplay we design, produce and build booths for national and international trade shows, and we connect each presence with the communication around it: invitations, press and content. We help you plan the calendar, fine-tune the budget and get the most out of every show, with the same team from start to finish.
If you’re preparing your 2027 trade shows, let’s talk now, while there’s still time to do it properly.