FITUR Keeps Growing as the World´s Second-Best Tourism Tradeshow

Spain´s FITUR keeps flexing its muscles and strengthening as the world´s number-two tourism and travel fair, trailing only behind Berlin´s ITB. However, the economic impact of the Madrid event is hard to assess, according to FITUR´s chief Ana Larrañaga.

Recent stats revealed by the fair´s organizers lay bare that approximately 87 percent of participants to previous editions have expressed satisfaction with the positive outcomes of the tradeshow.

“For many of these businesspeople, entrepreneurs, buyers and exhibitors, their goals and expectations have been met,” Mrs. Larrañaga went on to say. “This time around, we´ll cling to the same strategic objectives mapped out in the past: internationalization, professionalism and top-quality services to ease participation and clinch massive turnouts.”

In last year´s edition, FITUR grabbed over a fifth of a million visitors, broken down in 102,139 professionals and experts, 799 companies and 11,516 exhibitors. In the 2006 edition –now underway in Madrid- organizers are expecting to garner 50 percent more visitors.

Preliminary figures point to some 1,670 registered companies in this year´s FITUR, up 6.7 percent from 2005. In a region-by-region breakdown, Asia-Pacific (with a 22 percent increase), Africa with a double-digit surge, and America with a 2 percent increment are the major standouts.