FITUR 2005 Goes Strong as the World´s Second-Largest Travel Fair
The Madrid International Tourism Fair (FITUR 2005) that will come to a close Sunday is beefing up its stance as the world´s second-largest travel and tourism tradeshow and the number-one event of its kind for Hispanic America.
The 25th edition of FITUR, that has surpassed the Berlin Tourism Fair, got cracking Wednesday -officially opened by the Duke and Duchess of Lugo- with an unprecedented turnout of 799 exhibitors from 170 countries, up 6 percent from 2004.
Out of the 11,516 participating companies, 1,565 are attending the FITUR Active format, while 241 are doing it under the Know How category, 89 as part of FITUR Residential, and 151 within the FITUR Congress framework.
Approximately 42 percent of exhibitors are foreigners, with major increments like the Asia-Pacific region that has ramped up its participation by a whopping 42 percent compared to last year´s edition, and African attendants that grew 15 percent.
Europe and the Americas are by far the two best regions. As far as Spanish enterprises and companies are concerned, they have inched up by 7 percent from 2004.
Around 31 percent of participating exhibitors come from official institutions, 21 percent are wholesalers and tour operators, 18 percent are hoteliers, 12 percent are companies and service providers, 10 percent are news organizations, 6 percent are transporters and 2 percent are slotted in the residential tourism category.
On Tuesday, Spain´s Tourism and Commerce Secretary Pedro Mejia and Madrid Mayor Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon presided over the Eighth Iberian-American Conference of Tourism Ministers (CIMET 2005), an event that was closed by Esperanza Aguirre, president of the Madrid Community, and Raimon Martinez Fraile, director-general of regional tourism.
The World Tourism Organization (WTO) sponsored a couple of lectures on "Know-how Management for the Success of Travel Destinations" and "Saturation Management in Successful Destinations."
Over the weekend, the fair will be open to the general public with the World Peoples Folkloric Festival that embraces a number of Spanish cities and representatives from Bolivia, Ecuador, Malta, Mexico, Peru, Portugal, Romania, Tunisia and Venezuela.
