Tourism Companies, Destinations Choose FITUR

Once again in January, companies and destinations within the tourist industry have chosen to attend the International Tourism Trade Fair, FITUR, which will stage its twenty-ninth edition organized by IFEMA, between January 28 and February 1, 2009.

This much is confirmed by the space adjudication figures, which, with still four months to go before the fair itself takes place, show that 80 percent of the total space available has already been filled.

These figures enable the organizers to foresee a similar level of participation to that recorded at FITUR ‘08, whilst, in the international area, they have even witnessed an increase in the amount of exhibition space contracted compared to the same date last year, not to mention the incorporation of new countries.

In this respect, we might highlight the fact that Bosnia Herzegovina will be taking part at the fair for the first time, whilst Kenya, which recently opened a new tourist office in Spain, will once again participate with official representation at this edition. In addition, France, Italia, Argentina, Central America and Morocco have all increased their exhibition space.

With regard to the national area, this exhibition will once again account for more than 50 percent of the fair as a whole. Thus, so far the fair organizers have recorded contracting figures similar to those of last September. This reflects the strong interest on the part of Spanish companies to take part at a consolidated event that provides an essential framework for the tourist business.

All of this coincides with a set of favorable results achieved by the tourist industry over the first four months of the year, which once again attests to the considerable stability and strength of the industry, in spite of the climate of uncertainty regarding the world economy.

In this respect, the degree of confidence that tourism companies and official bodies place in FITUR has evolved in line with the increase in foreign tourism figures. Thus, according to the forecasts announced by the WTO, Spain will maintain its second-place position in the world rankings in terms of both its number of tourist arrivals and its tourism revenue.

Furthermore, Spain’s importance as a tourist-producing market continues to increase, especially bearing in mind that some 58.4 percent of the Spanish population undertakes at least one trip a year, according to figures compiled by FAMILITUR, which entailed a total of 11.3 million trips abroad in the year 2007, a 5.6 percent increase compared to the year 2006, accompanied by an 11 percent increase in overnight stays.