IAAPA Europe expo a success

October 01, 2021

The IAAPA Europe expo closed its doors last night after a three-day run at the Gran Via exhibition centre in Barcelona, Spain.

Most exhibitors and visitors agreed that it had been well worthwhile and welcomed the opportunity to meet face-to-face after an 18-month enforced absence.

Said Jorge Mochkovsky of Sacoa: “We have had a great show with plenty of pleasant surprises as most operators appear to have had a very good summer season - far better than even before the shutdown. Many are moving forward with new projects.

“We had interested visitors from France, the UK, Germany, Belgium, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Italy, Austria, Latvia, Portugal and of course from Spain. We even had a few visitors from the US.”

The US government had placed Spain on the red list just before the show, discouraging many would-be exhibitors and visitors from making the trip across the Atlantic.

Sacoa’s Pol Mochkovsky is pictured (second from the right, top picture) with three generations of Miguel Notario’s family from Sould Park in Barcelona.

Steve Bryant of LAI Games in London, reported: “As it was the first event many of us have got to in 19 months, you never know what attendance you’ll get.

"I was pleasantly surprised not just by the quantity of attendees, but also quality. Visitors represented a wide proportion of Europe, plus some from the Middle East and even a few from South America.

“Of course, the follow-up over the next few weeks will determine just how decent it was. However, just being out in front of customers, meeting peers again, being in a different country was overwhelmingly great.

"Wearing a mask all day wasn’t ideal and certainly meant you had to be incredibly vigilant to spot customers you know, but ultimately a small price to pay and hopefully just the start of our industry returning to some version of normal.”

In another picture, some important visitors from the Middle East are shown with Intercard’s Alberto Borrero (second from the left). On the left is Mohammed Attia, general manager at Sala Entertainments in Saudi Arabia, centre is Abderrahman Al Hokair, his CEO, Nicolás Quereda, CEO at Ozone in Spain and Jon Letamendi of Sam Billiards in Spain.