The international market for family entertainment centres will start moving forwards and upwards in the coming months, says Alberto Borrero, international sales director at Intercard, the major supplier of player cards and management systems.
Borrero, who in 2019 confessed to travelling over 400,000km on international business marketing his company’s systems to FECs all over the world, is a Spanish citizen who knows the industry as well as anyone else in the business.
He told InterGame this week: “It has been an ‘interesting’ year, to say the least! From one point of view, I am grateful to the pandemic for enabling me to spend more time with my young family – but even in 2020 I still managed 155,000 kilometres. Most of that was to visit locations in Asia. “Actually, during the last seven months Madrid has been open for business in our industry and you could pretty much enjoy a normal degree of activity. The only business restriction was to have locations closed by 10pm or 11pm, in some cases.
“I know some of the amusement operators in Spain had really good sales in their sites in Madrid during that time. It is actually understandable, as people in Madrid were not allowed to travel across the country. That meant that they were compelled to spend their time - and disposable income - in Madrid.
“Barcelona took a different approach, the effect of which was that business took a substantial dive there.” Borrero said his company took part in the FITUR show in Madrid last week – a kind of IAAPA show for the tourism Industry. “The crowds were not large, but it was a move into the right direction, with about 5,000 visitors; well below what would normally be expected that that show. There were many restrictions, including ell visitors taking a PCR - even if vaccinated - before entering the show.”
Borrero concluded: “I do believe that during the summer in the US, the UK and in Europe, as most people will be vaccinated, the business will start to climb. I recently actually closed a few deals in Germany, Romania and Spain. It is a good sign! I also expect a few deals to be finalised in June as several projects are scheduled to open in September right after the summer and with the Christmas season in the horizon.”
Pictured: Alberto Borrero (right) with company president Scott Sherrod
