FITUR 2008 Gears Up for Late January Grand Opening

Preparations are feverishly underway in Madrid for the upcoming edition of the International Tourism Fair (FITUR 2008), the world’s largest major travel and tourism tradeshow, slated to stretch from Jan. 30 to Feb. 3 in the Spanish capital.

Organizers told Caribbean News Digital that this year’s event will post a double-digit attendance growth from the 2006 edition, with the Americas and the Asia-pacific region bearing the brunt of the turnout spike with 18 and 12 percent increases respectively.

According to sources within FITUR 2008’s Organizing Committee, one of the biggest milestones this year will be a total exhibition surface of 100,000 square meters that will be scattered in a dozen pavilions.

As many as 13,300 companies from 170 countries are expected to show up at the Madrid fair, and over a quarter of a million visitors –with some 150,000 of them hailing from professional travel and tourism sectors- will walk past the turnstiles at the Feria de Madrid fairgrounds.

As far as newcomers are concerned, Bhutan, Madagascar, Greenland and Sao Tome & Principe will be getting their big break in 2008. Niger and Zimbabwe, two nations that made their debut in 2006, will try to cash in on the success of their previous attendance.

Planners are also counting on a huge turnout of Spanish companies. Local firms and enterprises are expected to comprise as much as 10 percent of the total exhibition surface and they will be clustered in three different pavilions.

Quality has traditionally been the name of the game for FITUR. In the 2008 edition, participating companies and nations will go the extra mile to showcase the finest travel and tourism products they have to offer.

One of the fair’s highlights in recent years has been FITUR CONGRESOS, a MICE-oriented, two-day collateral event that will unfold before the tradeshow’s official grand opening, on Jan. 28 and 29 at Pavilion 14.1.

Over the past 15 years, FITUR ACTIVO has displayed products and services from a number of both local and international institutions devoted to adventure trips, cultural tourism and ecotourism. A grand total of 1,596 companies have been included in the latest issue of the Active Tourism Guidebook.