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FITUR creates the area Inbound Spain
The International Tourism Trade Fair (FITUR) is celebrating its 30th anniversary between the 20 and 24 January. The 2010 edition, organised by IFEMA, carries the slogan FITUR, a 30-year commitment to tourism. This slogan underlines the trade fair’s established track record as the Spanish tourism industry’s principal meeting place, which has become an international benchmark and is ranked among the world’s top three trade fairs dedicated to the sector.

Once again, FITUR will be presenting the industry’s most attractive proposals along with the latest market trends and tourism programmes offered by the more than 170 participating countries and regions. There will also be a restructuring of the 2010 event by concentrating the offer around the exhibition halls located in the central avenue, which is, halls 1 to 10. In this way hall 1 will be fully devoted to visitor registration, whereas the rest of the odd-numbered halls (3, 5, 7 and 9) will house the Spanish Promotions Boards and Organisations. The even-numbered halls will be occupied by the International entities: Asia/Pacific will be located in number 2; hall 4 will house the Americas and Africa, with the exception of North Africa, which with the Middle East, will be located in part of Hall 6. The remainder of Hall 6 is added to Hall 8 for the European area. In the meantime, part of the space in Halls 8 and 10 will be devoted to company stands.

Within this reorganisation there is a specific space earmarked in hall 8, in the business area, for Spanish incoming agencies, INBOUND SPAIN. This section, created at the exhibitors/ request, aims to provide them with their own identity for the promotion of their individual tourist destinations. It is a space which will unite the immense variety of the Spanish tourism proposals, from the well known Sun and Beach segment, to the gastronomic routes which combine tradition with innovation, and will also include, among other aspects, the cultural itineraries for exploring and discovering Spain’s history and customs. INBOUND SPAIN is a new platform designed to demonstrate the trade fair’s internationalism and to provide foreign visitors the quickest and easiest way of locating all of these proposals.

Another of the specialised events held within the framework of FITUR for promoting a key market for the Spanish sector is the specialised forum FITUR CONGRESOS. According to the International Congress & Convention Association, Spain has become the world’s third destination for the number of events organised of this type in the past few years. The workshop, held as a prelude to FITUR, will bring together Spain’s most competitive meetings and incentive travel suppliers, with the world’s top international buyers.

These working meetings, which stimulate the commercialisation of the Spanish MICE sector, will be combined with PRETOURS, familiarisation trips for the Autonomous Communities or Regions to present trade visitors with the attractions of their region’s proposals in situ. Trade visitors will also have the opportunity to attend the activities run simultaneously to FITUR CONGRESOS, for presenting the infinite possibilities Madrid has to offer in this area.

One of the key factors in the success of FITUR/S evolution over the past three decades has been its ability to recognise business trends and reflect them in its proposals. This aptitude will be reiterated once again in 2010 with the incorporation into the trade fair of the new INVESTOUR programme. A new forum will be created, organised in collaboration with the World Tourism Organisation (WTO), with the objective of fostering business investment in Africa and thus contributing to the continent’s development. On the same note, the application of tools such as renewable energies will be highlighted at FITUR GREEN, to encourage sustainability within the industry and its contribution to the environment.

These new projects will be running alongside those events already established in previous editions such as FITUR ACTIVO, a specialist section dedicated to adventure, cultural and nature tourism itineraries, and conferences such as FITURTECH, for the analysis of the evolution and application of technological progress in tourism processes, or seminars such as SMX-Travel@FITUR which was first launched in 2009 geared towards training the new generations of tourism marketing experts in search engine marketing.

With all of these programmes, FITUR intends to continue the revitalising role in the travel sector which it has played over the past three decades. A trade fair created by and for the tourism industry and which has arrived at its 30th anniversary thanks to the efficiency its has demonstrated as a commercial platform, and for its commitment to the sector’s main players to convert FITUR into their reference point. Theodore Koumelis - Tuesday, January 05, 2010