THE 30th EDITION OF FITUR MAINTAINS ITS STRENGTH IN AN UNFAVOURABLE ECONOMIC CLIMATE

The International Tourism Trade Fair, FITUR, closed its 2010 edition with satisfactory results. In this, its 30th anniversary, in the framework of economic recession, the fair managed to attract almost 11,000 companies from 170 countries, in 75,923 meters of exhibition hall. An extensive promotion which awakened the interest of 211,718 participants who visited the exhibition hall of IFEMA from 20 to 24 January in order to discover the latest news in the holiday sector. Of this figure, 124,644 people were professionals, while 87,074 were members of the general public. Among the professionals of this sector, it is to be noted that, although the number of visitors has descended compared to the last edition (-6%), the percentage of visitors from abroad was maintained, representing 18% of the total, confirming the strength of FITUR as a reference for the international market.

Once again, the Fair also became for a few days an obligatory venue for the media as there were more than 7,352 reporters, of 56 nationalities, present at the Fair in order to transmit, apart from other information, the novelties presented at this event.

By sectors, among the exhibitors, the most noted was the Hotel Industry that represented 39% of the total promotion, followed by the sector of Spanish Official Institutions, and in third place Travel Agencies. Among the professional visitors, surveys reveal that the majority belong to the Travel Agency and Hotel Industry segment, making up 17.5% and 15.1% respectively. They were especially interested in the promotions offered by Travel Wholesalers and Tour Operators (14.8%), and those of the Travel Agencies (12.4%), followed by proposals related to the Hotel Industry (10.7%).

With regard to the geographic regions that motivated a visit to the Fair, 31% of the professionals were seeking proposals related to Europe, while America aroused interest in 15%, the same figure registered for Asia and Oceania. The objective of 13% of the visitors was the promotions offered by Africa and the Near East, showing the increasing interest in this area that is approaching the percentage of more traditional destinations such as America. Lastly, 18% of the professionals came to FITUR looking for promotions within Spain itself.

As a prelude to the official opening of FITUR, on 18t and 19t January, the eleventh edition of FITUR CONGRESOS was held in Hall 14.1 of the Madrid Convention Centre. At this 2010 edition, the conferences attracted 139 Spanish companies from the segment of business travel, with 187 international buyers, originating from 39 countries. Among these nationalities the participation for the first time of buyers from Saudi Arabia, the Philippines and Taiwan is to be noted.

As a result of these meetings, in two days 4,300 professional appointments took place. This reaffirms the commitment of FITUR CONGRESOS to one of the segments with the greatest potential for the Spanish sector as, according to a report made by the International Association of Congresses and Conventions, Spain holds third place with regard to organizing the highest number of meetings in the world.

In this event where FITUR celebrated its 30th edition, the Organizers of the Fair decided that the best way of holding it was to create new spaces that would boost the business of exhibitors and visitors to the Fair. To this effect, the 2010 edition has witnessed the creation of the section RECEPTIVO ESPAÑA (INCOMING SPAIN), to provide greater visibility and encourage the meeting between professionals interested in Spanish incoming tourism.

In turn, and in order to encourage energy efficiency in hotel accommodation, FITUR GREEN was designed in collaboration with the World Tourism Organization (WTO) and the Madrid Tourist Board. The initiative was enthusiastically received and combined a one-day event with an exhibition spot, in which companies such as Robert Bosch España S.A., TÜV Rheinland Iberica, or Home Hotel Energy participated – companies that on 22nd January also gave a workshop on energy solutions for hotels. “For the first time at FITUR, participants had the unique opportunity to join up with experts in energy technology specializing in the hotel industry at the FITUR GREEN exhibition”, pointed out Zoritsa Urosevic, coordinator of the project Soluciones Energéticas para Hoteles (Energy Solutions for Hotels) at the World Tourism Organization.

During the conference organized within the framework of FITUR GREEN on 21 January, various experts showed the best methods and technologies for achieving maximum energy efficiency in different areas. In this context, several successful examples of saving energy were explained, such as those carried out within the project SAVE, promoted by Sol Meliá. At the same time, among other talks given, participants could learn about the experience of the chain Relais & Châteaux from their international president Jaume Tàpies, or from the European Federation of Youth Hostels in Germany and Scotland where, according to Constanze Adolf, director of operations for this institution, “accommodation is being developed with neutral CO2 emissions”.

Together with these experiences, FITUR GREEN also dedicated special attention to explaining the collaboration and strategies developed between different types of destinations – such as the Nordic countries, the city of Bonn or places such as the beach in Palma (Majorca) – and the hotel sector to promote environmental sustainability.

According to the impressions gathered by the WTO from among the participants in the opening edition of FITUR GREEN, “the first conference was a great success with a group of experienced, high-quality speakers who attracted a numerous audience from the hotel and European energy sector. The conference revealed the innovations and opportunities for hotels and destinations to become more efficient, more competitive and “greener”, within the joint determination to achieve sustainable tourism”, Zoritsa Urosevic summed up. The WTO representative underlined, as well, that “the interest shown and the support directed towards Energy Solutions for Hotels and FITUR GREEN have been very gratifying for which reason the WTO and its members are anxious to continue collaborating with the industry in this important matter”.

The objective of INVESTOUR was to promote Spanish tourism investments in Africa, and contribute in this way to the development of the continent and creation of employment. Together with the WTO and House of Africa, they arranged to have the countries of the Economic Community of Western Africa as their invited region. In this context, the forum brought together nearly 62 entrepreneurs from the Spanish tourist sector and the representatives of 112 projects in 24 African States. Among these, Benin, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Morocco, Mauritania, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia and Uganda. In all, on 21 January at the INVESTOUR conference, 256 trade meetings took place.

Ousmane Ndiaye, regional representative of the WTO for Africa valued positively the 2010 invitation to this forum: “In its first edition, INVESTOUR has reached its main objective: to draw the African tourism potential closer to the Spanish market. Both with regard to the level of participation of Spanish and African entrepreneurs, and the quality of the projects presented for infrastructure, the hotel industry, construction or training, amongst other areas, and which have exceeded our expectations”.

The participants, such as Diomande Mamadou, Managing Director of CTE Voyage et Tourisme, on the Ivory Coast, also expressed their satisfaction with this initiative, “The program is very tempting for us because on the Ivory Coast we are trying to give a new impulse to tourism after the war. And now we need the experience of Spaniards who have been present in Senegal and in Mali in order to develop our tourism, ecotourism, thermal and cultural tourism”.

For their part, the Spanish entrepreneurs recognized the opportunity that INVESTOUR offers for their companies: “We have technologies for hotels, and in the African market tourism is growing fast, there are many hotel projects, and at this event we can contact professionals of the sector in this continent and offer them our technology”, commented Bernardo Puyol, from the company Delta Informática.

Given the good results at this first-time event, Ousmane Ndiaye assured that “our organization will continue to work together with FITUR and the House of Africa, not only to strengthen tourist relations between Africa and Spain, but also so that FITUR becomes a must for the African countries and destinations. Furthermore, we hope that the various contacts made between the Spanish and the African people will materialize into fruitful business relationships.”

The 2010 edition of FITUR also witnessed the arrival of social networks at the Fair with a page on Facebook that has connected 2,294 fans of the Fair, and has also been uploaded onto Youtube, with videos of past FITUR events and FITUR CONGRESOS, in English and Spanish.

With the backup of new technologies, the first QUEDADA FITUR was also organized, promoted by the social travel network MINUBE.COM. A meeting that brought together approximately 500 travel-lovers who shared experiences of their journeys round the world: “with this initiative FITUR has become a meeting point for travellers too, which is what we were trying to achieve with the QUEDADA: that people come and discover that the world is very large and that there are really interesting places to be enjoyed”, emphasizes Pedro Jareño, in charge of communication and marketing for MINUBE.

All these novelties were in addition to the already traditional initiatives at FITUR, for which the professionals have, once again, confirmed their interest. This is the case of conferences such as FITURTECH, promoted together with the Instituto Tecnológico Hotelero (ITH) (Hotel Technological Institute) which, throughout its duration, from Wednesday 20 to Friday 22 January, exceeded the attendance anticipated in all sessions, where subjects such as social networks applied to the industry, video marketing or future Webs for tourism were discussed.

The extraordinary attendance achieved is even more significant taking into account that in 2010, the opening times for the conferences were extended to the afternoons. This enthusiastic welcome of FITURTECH by the professionals shows that, from its first edition, this forum was capable of providing solutions for the needs of the sector at all times and reflected in its program the evolution of technology in tourism: “The market changes, the client changes and FITUR changes with them; this is the FITURTECH concept”, Álvaro Carrillo, managing director of ITH, pointed out. “FITURTECH has had an excellent list of speakers, workshops and collaborating companies such as Hosteltur or the Instituto de Empresa (Institute of Entrepreneurs), but what really marks the difference are the people; organizers, speakers, the public and visitors”. In this regard, Carrillo highlighted the usefulness of the conferences, and the Fair that includes them, in order to also approach the professionals with whom they work or potential clients: “the breakfasts, lunches and dinners bring together all the people with whom we are in contact all year long with the aim of meeting face to face. At FITURTECH, although there is no session programmed, the stand is full of innovators and enterprising professionals of the sector, commenting on the latest trends or simply getting to know each other”.

After the excellent impressions received from the participants at the 30th anniversary edition of FITUR, the Fair, organized by IFEMA, has already started work on their next event which will take place in Madrid from 19 to 23 January 2011.