Congress tourism, conventions and meetings accounted for a staggering 1,352 million euro in direct spending in Catalonia in 2008. This is one of the most relevant figures taken from the first study that the Local Government carried out in this sector across the Catalonian territory. This figure was made public at the presentation of the Catalonian Convention Bureau, an entity which will comprise of the current Convention Centres (like the Barcelona Convention Bureau) whose aim is to facilitate synergies. “We must approach far-off markets with a single brand”, said the Councillor for  Innovation, Universities and Companies, Mr Josep Huguet. The report, which did not include data for the all-important 2009, highlights the position of Barcelona as  a city that accounts for 74% of participants and 49% of meetings.