The 42nd FITUR International Tourism Fair, which runs from 19-23 January 2022, has been inaugurated in IFEMA, Madrid.
King of Spain His Majesty Don Felipe VI and Queen Leticia did the opening ceremony.
They were joined by the President of Dominican Republic Luis Abinader and the Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Zurab Pololikashvili.
Also present were Spain’s Minister of Tourism Reyes Maroto, President of the Executive Committee of IFEMA MADRID José Vicente de los Mozos, and a large number of presidents of the autonomous communities, among other authorities.
Their majesties’ attendance is seen as the much needed impetus the tourism sector needs for an accelerated recovery. It also once again demonstrates the Royal Family’s continued support for the International Tourism Fair throughout its history.
Having the King and Queen at this year’s FITUR, which will be decisive in boosting market confidence and demonstrating tourism’s potential for generating wealth and employment.
The International Tourism Fair-FITUR is the first annual event for world tourism professionals and the leading fair for inbound and outbound markets in Ibero-America.
FITUR is a unique forum to promote brands, present new products, find out about the latest trends and fill agendas with contacts and prospects.
In addition, it has the support of the entire value chain of the tourism industry, as evidenced by the high representation, national and international, and figures that place the fair “in parameters very close to those achieved before the pandemic”.
In total, the fair will bring together around 100 countries with 70 official representations, headed by the Dominican Republic, which this year is the “partner country”.
In the 2021 edition of FITUR, which was delayed to May due to the pandemic, 5,000 companies and 55 countries attended, with more than 62,000 face-to-face attendees – 42,000 professionals and more than 20,000 visitors.
The previous year, in January 2020, before the official start of the pandemic in March, the main fair organized by IFEMA achieved the highest number of attendance in its history in its exclusively professional sessions, with 150,011 participants from 140 countries.
The fair brought together 255,000 visitors that year; 918, main exhibitors; 11,040 companies, 165 countries, and regions, and an international share of 56%.
Exhibitors from 20 African countries are participating at this year’s FITUR International tourism fair as the world opens for travel again. The countries include Algeria, Botswana, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Mali, Morocco, Mauritius, Mauritania, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tunisia, and Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Somalia and Uganda.
This year’s FITUR brings together 6,933 participants this year. In attendance will be all of Spain’s regions together with companies and destinations from 107 countries, 70 of them with official international representation, headed by the Dominican Republic, FITUR’s Partner Country this year.
Click here to view pictures of the opening day of FITUR
