In terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the economic impact of the Bilbao Exhibition Centre during 2007 amounted to 89,475,381 million Euros.

This impact included 2,060 jobs and generated income for the public treasury totalling 13.2 million Euros as VAT (€6m), Income Tax (€5.2m) and Corporation Tax (€1.9m).

This impact is a result of the final demand generated by the BEC, which amounted to 79.4 million Euros. This demand can be broken down in the following way:

By business sectors: that were influenced by BEC’s economic impact: these include the hotel and catering sector (€32.8 million), transport (€8.9 million), leisure and culture(€7.4 million), retail trade (€1.6 million), freight (€1.3 million) and the exhibition industry itself (€27.3 million),

By events: €58.1 million relates to professional events, €20.9 million to public events, €9.1 million to the BEC Convenciones convention centre, €10.3 million to the Bizkaia Arena and the remaining €1.7 million to other income.

By key players: €44 million relates to exhibitors and organisers and the remaining €35.4 million to visitors.

In terms of the economic impact for 2007 generated by the construction of the building in Ansio, contributions to GDP amounted to €36.3 million, 722 jobs were created and €5.5 million Euros were collected for the public treasury.

Finally, economic impact accrued since the BEC was opened with regard to GDP amounted to €315.1 million in terms of the centre’s own business and to €525.2 million Euros in terms of construction. Business related tax collection totalled €46.6 million while €80.3 million was collected as regards construction.

Final demand generated since the BEC first started has amounted to €280.2 million in terms of business and €507.2 million in construction.

In 2007, the Bilbao Exhibition Centre housed a total of 24 trade fairs, 128 events at BEC Convenciones and 24 shows in the Bizkaia Arena.

In terms of trade fairs, there were a total of 3,555 exhibitors and 1,212,065 visitors.

It is important to note that the Bilbao Exhibition Centre included four new trade fairs in its events calendar. Three of these (aimed at the food and property industries) were organised by the centre itself and a further fair on "Handicrafts" was organised by an external company. The BEC worked with this company to provide all the services on offer to exhibitors and visitors.

The Bilbao Exhibition Centre facilities were occupied for 274 of the 365 calendar days in the year. 165 of these days, five more than in the previous financial year, were taken up with events, whereas 109 days were used for the erection and assembly or dismantling of exhibitions in the halls, convention rooms and in the Bizkaia Arena. The facilities were unoccupied for 91 days and this coincided with periods in the summer and winter when business demand drops, as the majority of events, especially in the trade fair industry, centre on spring and autumn.

In terms of total occupancy and adding together all events held, several of which overlapped on the same dates, 106 days were dedicated to trade fairs, 261 to BEC Convenciones and 28 to the Bizkaia Arena, totalling 395 days. The erection and assembly or dismantling of events accounted for 384 days: 199 for trade fairs, 119 for BEC Convenciones and 66 for the Bizkaia Arena.

During 2007, the Bilbao Exhibition Centre has been working on including new names in its calendar and winning new projects to widen the range of different events at the BEC, both in terms of conferences and conventions and sporting and/or musical shows.

Therefore, as has been previously mentioned, four new events were held. Creative Trends, the Bilbao Real Estate Show, Foccus Gastronómico (Gastronomic Focus) and ALGUSTO. In 2006, a new trade fair was opened: Exponatur, a fair aimed at promoting the booming adventure tourism sector, which was held for the second time in 2007.

Likewise, other issues focussing on expanding and strengthening BEC’s position in the trade fair industry were tackled during last year. An agreement was reached with Cologne Trade Fair to jointly promote the two leading events in the world hardware sector: EinsewarenMesse/Practical World and Ferroforma/Bricoforma.

In addition, agreements were renewed with the main professional associations in the machine tool sector, such as the Association of Machine Tool Manufacturers and the Spanish Association of Manufacturers of Machine Tool Accessories, Components and Tooling. Partnership agreements were also signed with the Basque Maritime Forum in relation to the Sinaval/Eurofishing Fair and with ACLIMA for the GEO2 Fair, previously known as PROMA, and which has just been redesigned in order to include new environmental protection aspects relevant to the sector.

As well as housing trade fairs, Bilbao Exhibition Centre also hosted extremely prestigious international concerts by artists such as Bruce Springsteen, Maná, Marylin Manson, Luis Miguel, Chuck Berry, The Who, Pereza, Paulina Rubio, etc. The Bizkaia Arena also housed the Basketball Super Cup, the European Supercross Championship and the Word Corporate Games. In terms of shows, we must highlight the "High School Musical" ice show, the horse show Apassionatta and the Harlem Globe Trotters show. All of these shows had very different staging needs and they were able to take place thanks to the Centre’s ability to adapt to changing requirements.

In terms of conventions, BEC hosted different events organised by the iron and steel company ACB, the engineering company IDOM and the insurance company Lagun Aro, as well events for Ericsson, Optoel, Euskalit, etc.

Finally, the Bilbao Exhibition Centre undertook a number of initiatives in 2007, such as moving all staff to new offices in its emblematic tower building, the implementation of a corporate TV channel: BEC TV and the launching of a new web site, to name but a few.

In 2008, the Bilbao Exhibition Centre will implement its entire trade fair calendar, including the biennial Machine Tool Exhibition, which holds its 25th edition this year and takes over the entire area provided by BEC’s six exhibition halls.

In terms of professional meetings, we should highlight the National Cardiology Congress that will be held in October and which will bring together 4,000 professionals from the medical world. This congress will occupy all the Centre’s convention rooms for a number of days.

"Adventures", the new Disney On Ice show, which will spectacularly combine a number of Disney musicals, has been confirmed and will be put on in the Bizkaia Arena. There will also be a new basketball match between Iurbentia Bilbao Basket and Barcelona and the Motorcycle Supercross will be held once again.