FITUR Rolls Out the FITURNEXT Observatory

This observatory will act as a guide for identifying future trends in tourism and to highlight guidelines with a positive impact on economic, social, cultural and environmental aspects.

Over three years, it will gather best practices implemented internationally by companies, organizations and destinations with the aim of analysing key factors for the Tourism of the future.

The scale of business that FITUR achieves as one of the meetings with the greatest impact in the world tourism industry, which annually brings together more than 200,000 professionals, together with its ability to detect trends and business models, has inspired IFEMA, through the Madrid International Tourism Fair, to set up the FITURNEXT Observatory.

This project, which will be launched at FITUR 2019 seeks to highlight the best practices that different actors in the industry are implementing internationally to improve the quality of tourism business, and to share with the community the new models which will be the foundations of the tourism of the future.

The Observatory’s research will continue for the coming three years, to act as a guide for identifying future trends in tourism and to highlight guidelines with a positive impact on the economic, social, cultural and environmental areas.

Tourism is one of the main drivers for development, and according to the World Tourism Organization (WTO), is growing faster today than the global economy as a whole. Currently, one in every ten jobs created is related to this sector.

The WTO estimates that in 2030, tourism will account for 12% of world GDP and the number of passengers will rise to 1800 million worldwide. But tourism also has a large environmental and social footprint, given the sector’s heavy impact and the pressure that large visitor numbers put on the resources and infrastructure of many destinations.


In order to help identify patterns and models of tourism able to address these challenges, IFEMA/FITUR has set up the FiturNext observatory, a platform for industry convergence that will serve as a catalyst for future-oriented tourism projects and initiatives around the world.

An environment in which companies, institutions, agencies and destinations can share from different angles a common goal of contributing to having a positive impact both on visitor experience and for residents, as well as on developing destinations and on the balance of our planet.

So, the Observatory will be open to all initiatives that promote a committed and inclusive tourism in which the different actors actively contribute to improving the quality of the tourism business.

To achieve this, FiturNext will launch a process to identify and publicise initiatives aligned with the values of this tourism business model, and which strive to find alternatives to issues such as over-tourism, the creation of inclusive employment, local development or sustainable mobility, among others.

The scope of this project will require a long-term effort and the active participation of all those agents who share the same goals of responsible and quality tourism. To achieve this, the FiturNext observatory will be launched during FITUR 2019, which will be held from 23 - 27 January 2019 in Madrid, and will be followed by different phases of the project until 2021, when it will present its main conclusions and consensus guidelines for the construction of the tourism of the future.

FITUR 2019 will be the global meeting point for tourism professionals and will continue to be the leading fair for destination and departure markets in Latin America. Last year’s edition attracted 251,000 participants and there were more than 6,800 business meetings.

Over five days, from 23 - 27 January, this great global tourism event organized by IFEMA at the Feria de Madrid, offers a wide range of content, specialist sections, B2B and B2C meetings, as well as different activities aimed to promote the improvement of tourism management, promote destinations and improve traveler’s experiences.

The progressive specialization of tourism is well represented in FITUR’s different sections. Among these will be the new FITUR CINE/SCREEN TOURISM section, as well as the content offered by the FITUR FESTIVALES subject-specific spaces; FiturtechY;  Fitur Know-How & Export; FITUR SALUD, and FITUR LGBT.