BLiP exhibition will celebrate its silver jubilee in 2025
2025 marks an incredible milestone for one of the Algarve’s most cherished community events. The Better Living in Portugal Exhibition (BLiP Expo) is celebrating its 25th anniversary, continuing its mission to connect residents – especially the Algarve’s expatriate community – with the best that Portugal has to offer.
What began in 2001 as a modest gathering of service providers has grown into a vibrant, two-day showcase of the region’s business landscape, lifestyle, and community spirit.
Organised by Portugal’s largest foreign residents’ association, afpop, BLiP is set to return to the Portimão Arena on October 11 and 12 for an edition which will acknowledge its past but continues to focus much more on the future.
In fact, just how much this year’s edition will focus on its silver jubilee is something that afpop CEO, Michael Reeve, is still grasping with. Nonetheless, he spoke with the Resident to share some of the biggest changes the event has undergone over the years, as well as some of his funniest anecdotes related to BLiP.
The event’s first edition dates back to 2001 and was held at the Fissul exhibition centre in Silves for the first four years. However, the venue presented some unexpected challenges that left organisers at the time seriously considering a change.
“One of the reasons was that the event was growing at a faster pace than the space that was available,” Reeve told us. Another issue was that the car park near the exhibition centre was all on clay. “The first and second years I was involved with the event, it poured rain… The place was looking pristine but as soon as we opened the doors and loads of people started marching inside, everything turned wet and orange,” Reeve told us with a laugh. “We weren’t laughing at the time though; it was a bit infuriating, to be honest. We said next year would be different, but it wasn’t… it rained again, and the same thing happened.”
The experience had organisers scrambling the following year for a new venue. “We’d outgrown the original facilities,” Reeve said. The search led them to Portimão’s fairground, where the event was held for several years in two massive marquees. But this also turned out to be far from an ideal solution.
“One of the marquees was on hard standing, but the other was on Brita, which was a nightmare for some exhibitors. We had to put carpet over the Brita for car companies so that their tyres wouldn’t get dirty,” the afpop CEO said. But the biggest issue was that the marquees became incredibly humid throughout the day. “You could see water running down the inside of the marquees,” Reeve said, adding that there was so much condensation that “people started baking inside”.
Luckily for the event, the Portimão Arena was completing construction in 2007 at the fairground, just in time for that year’s edition of BLiP. “We ended up being the first event to open the Arena,” Reeve said, adding that it marked the start of a successful relationship which still lasts until today.
“It’s fairly easy to get to; the size of the venue fits what we need for the event; and the local council has always looked out for us and been very welcoming and hospitable, as well as the team that works at the Arena – they can’t do enough for us. So, it’s been really good,” Reeve said.
BLiP’s continued success has also been helped by vital backing from the Algarve Tourism Region (RTA), currently led by André Gomes, as well as Medal Seguros, a key sponsor and supporter. In fact, it is thanks to RTA’s support that afpop has been able to include charity stands among the exhibitors, one of the event’s most successful additions in recent years.
While the foreign community remains BLiP’s main target audience, Michael Reeve reports a growing diversity among visitors, with more French, American and even Portuguese people attending, proving that the exhibition’s audience continues to expand.
After surviving the pandemic years, which saw afpop host two virtual versions of BLiP, the event seems to be stronger than ever before, having celebrated what some called the “best BLiP ever” in 2024. It’s a remarkable achievement for an exhibition that has existed for a quarter-century, and which plans to stick around for much longer. As Michael Reeve puts it, “our eyes are set on the future.”
BLiP 2025 will take place at the Portimão Arena on October 11 and 12, and afpop is calling on businesses to “sign up early” this year to make sure they reserve their spot in time and book the stand they truly want.
