Spain’s 2018 FITUR Gets Going in Madrid
IFEMA kicks off the international schedule of tourism trade fairs with FITUR 2018, the great business and professional meeting platform that will present the latest proposals, destinations and news of world tourism in Madrid between 17-21 January.
Like every year, this staging will allow agents from this industry to establish the lines of work that will set the program for the whole year. Many business meetings will be held and contacts and business exchanges will be made.
Furthermore, the International Tourism Trade Fair is being held in a highly positive context, with record figures on a national and international level. According to figures provided by the UNWTO, tourist destinations received 1.1 billion international tourists between January and October 2017 (a growth of 7% over the same period in the previous year, or 70 million more international arrivals).
Spain has also reached record figures: up until November, 77.8 million international tourists had visited our country, accounting for a growth of 9.1%. Tourist expenditure totaled 82,293 billion euros, for a growth of 12.9%.
This positive scenario will be best reflected in FITUR 2018, which is increasing its content, both national and international, the number of participating companies and its surface area.
This staging will cover 65,500 m2 (4% more) and will have more than 10.000 participating companies from 165 countries and regions, increasing the number of main exhibitors to 816 (8% more overall). It is especially important to mention the 13% increase in international participation, which accounts for 54% of the total, whereas national participation (46% of the total) has grown by 3%.
The regions that have grown the most are Africa (more than 21%), Asia-Pacific and Europe (more than 19% and 15% respectively).
Furthermore, this staging will see the first-time participation of Syria, São Tomé and Príncipe, Bangladesh and Bosnia-Herzegovina. In addition, the international contingent will also include Azerbaijan, Belorussia, Bolivia, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Latvia, Mauritius, Puerto Rico and Ukraine. These countries had already participated through companies from their territories, but they are back in FITUR with an official representation.
The 2017 attendance figures of 244,972 visitors, including 135,838 professionals, are expected to be exceeded. Madrid will receive a significant number of visitors because of FITUR, thereby yielding an estimated financial impact of 260 million euros. All hotels are expected to be fully booked and sectors linked to tourism, such as restaurants and retail and leisure businesses, will be highly active.
In this sense, FESTITUR will be held again this year, to coincide with the Trade Show, in collaboration with Madrid Night, the program of cultural, leisure, business and cuisine activities that aims to highlight the appeal of Madrid as a tourist destination and to boost expenditure in leisure activities, which totaled 12.5 million euros and 190,000 night visits by the FITUR professionals.
