Exhibitors from 20 African countries have confirmed their participation at this year’s FITUR International tourism fair as the world opens for travel again.
With the start of the first major travel show for the year, FITUR International Travel Fair days from now, twenty African destinations are set to showcase their respective countries’ unique tourism draws once again at the tourism showpiece in the Spanish Capital of Madrid.
The 42nd FITUR international Tourism is scheduled from 19-23 January 2022 in IFEMA, Madrid. The fair is the only travel exhibition which was never canceled and organized presential event during the pandemic.
The show is seen by industry experts as the opportune platform to restart the global tourism sector which plummeted by 73% by international tourist arrivals numbers in the last twenty-four months since the pandemic.
Africa which relatively had fair better case management of the covid-19 pandemic was at the receiving end as the reliable source markets were hit hard and closed resulting in disruptions in the tourism economy.
The African Pavilion in Hall 6 at IFEMA will be the beehive of activities with twenty African destinations comprising of National Tourism Boards, ministries of Tourism and embassies will be convincing the world to return to the Africa region to have a taste of its diverse and unique tourism offering.
The countries include Algeria, Botswana, Ethiopia, Cabo Verde, Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Mali, Morocco, Mauritius, Mauritania, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tunisia, and Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Somalia and Uganda.
Speaking exclusively on the VA Tourism Podcast the Director of FITUR, Maria Valcarce said, it is very important for the show to have African participation.
‘’For us, it is very important to have the African countries at the show. Well, this year there are difficulties for some of them due to the pandemic but the show is open to all of them. Participating at FITUR gives the African countries a very good opportunity to make business with all travel world. ‘’
‘’I think the African continent has a challenge with the development of tourism in general, but the continent has worked very hard with respect to sustainability and is an example for many other countries to emulate the way they are developing the sector with sustainability as its core foundation’’.
Rigorous Safety Protocol
To ensure that FITUR runs normally, IFEMA MADRID will strengthen sanitary checks and enforce all necessary safety measures. In this respect, in a context marked by Spain’s excellent vaccination levels, FITUR 2022 will require all participants from countries in the EU digital COVID certificate scheme to show it. The requirement for participants from other countries will be the same as at border checks to obtain the QR Spain Health for entry into the country.
It will also deploy again, as it did at the 2021 edition, a rigorous protocol of measures and systems to ensure the safety of all exhibitors and visitors, validated by the Madrid Regional Government’s Health Department.
There will also be capacity control in all the halls, with automated people counting systems and an intelligent digital system for analysing spaces, capacity and attendee behaviour. There will be crowd control at all times, and mandatory wearing of masks inside the IFEMA MADRID facilities, and temperature checks that are in place at all its fairs.
There will also be strict protocols in catering facilities, with spacious outdoor seating areas. In addition to this, IFEMA MADRID’s facilities are equipped with an advanced and powerful ventilation system that filters the air, prevents it from recirculating, and ensures complete renewal every twenty minutes to prevent the spread of pathogens. These measures are complemented by a careful organisation of people flows and layout of spaces to ensure safe interpersonal distancing, hand sanitiser gel and disinfectants throughout the premises, and contactless digital passes.
