The Mobile World Congress estimates this year's edition's economic impact at €588 million

BarcelonaThe Mobile World Congress (MWC) had an economic impact on Barcelona of 588 million euros in its twentieth edition held this 2026 and generated 14,016 part-time jobs, according to data from GSMA, the organizing company of the congress.

problems some attendees encountered arriving in Barcelonathe event's impact was 561 million euros and 13,000 temporary jobs were created.

Since the first edition in Barcelona in 2006, the MWC has generated a total economic contribution of 7.5 billion euros and created 187,000 part-time jobs, according to the economic report presented today by the organization. "The last twenty years of MWC in Barcelona have been really very good. I hope to be here for twenty more years in the city, and if I could, I would sign for ever

", Hoffman stated. The executive said that they initially did not expect to maintain such a long-lasting relationship with the Catalan capital, but he underlined that the public-private collaboration with the institutions of the city and Catalonia have given a sustained boost to the long-standing celebration of the event.

Good prospects for 2027

Hoffman has advanced that they have very good prospects for the next edition in 2027, with a registration level to date higher than what they had for last year. Furthermore, he added that they anticipate it will be a "bridge year" serving as a transition towards 2028, when they expect to inaugurate Hall 0 of Fira de Barcelona at the Gran Via venue in L'Hospitalet, which will allow them to increase the number of attendees.

Regarding the tensions that an increase in city visitors may generate locally, the Marketing Director General of GSMA, Lara Dewar, explained that there is already dialogue about this impact with the administrations: "We are not building Hall 0 without talking to the city. All of this is coordinated," she assured.