Buenos Aires dressed for success at Latin American Tourism Fair

Over 1,400 exhibitors from 27 countries attended the Eighth International Tourism Fair of Latin America (FIT) that got underway Saturday in Buenos Aires at the traditional La Rural Fairgrounds in the neighborhood of Palermo.

With 35,000 square yards of exhibition space divided in whole sectors for Argentina, Brazil, the Caribbean, Central America and the rest of the world, some of the region’s travel heavyweights such as Aruba, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Uruguay, Venezuela and the host country are all there.

There are similar representations from Croatia, Egypt, Spain, France, the U.K., Italy, Malaysia, Poland, Singapore, Turkey, Puerto Rico and the United States.

Organizers note that attendants to this year’s FIT are eying a country that’s become a major tourist destination in the world market two years after the end of the so-called convertibility (parity between the face value of the Argentine peso and the U.S. dollar) and the devaluation of the local currency.

This time around, planners are expecting over 70,000 people to walk past the fair’s turnstiles lured by a program that includes a number of interesting lectures.

The event’s main topics will deal with Tourism and the Economy (how to get a competitive edge to beef up economic growth), Tourism and MERCOSUR (ongoing situation and perspectives of both MERCOSUR and POTENAL, as well as some travel challenges for MERCOSUR), and Tourism and Culture.

Moreover, a newsletter entitled FIT Events, beaming at experts in the field of congress, conventions, fairs and expositions, as well as planner of sport, cultural, entrepreneurial and social events, will get its big break at the tradeshow.

In its first edition back in 1996, FIT took in a meager 8,000 square yards of exhibition space and clicked barely 12,000 visitors from two dozen countries with 332 exhibitors in all.

The fair’s best years as far as foreign turnout is concerned were 2000 and 2001 with 50 and 49 nations, respectively. These figures, though, skidded down to only 29 countries in 2002 as a result of the deep economic crisis that swept Argentines off their feet and still keep them busy trying to level things off.