A lot of money is wasted. Presumably sales at a lot of companies take some incremental hit. Some startup that planned this as their launch event is screwed. A lot of people in Barcelona don't make money they were expecting to make. (Other Barcelona residents breathe a sigh of relief.) So, yes, there's harm even if the decision was probably the rational one.
I work at a startup where we invested quite a bit of time and money for this show. It is a big hit for the smaller companies since it eats away a large chunk of your marketing budget.