Madrid, 19 May, 2011. Next year’s International Tourism and Trade Fair, FITUR, to be held in Madrid from 18-22 January, will welcome the first edition of INVESTOUR Americas. Trade Fair Director Ana Larrañaga presented this new initiative, organized in collaboration with the UN-WTO during the 52nd UN-WTO Commission Meeting for the Americas, held in Asunción, Paraguay. In this way, the FITUR director was able to explain all the details of the project to leading tourism industry representatives from this geographical area. The objective of INVESTOUR Americas is to create a forum through which to take advantage of the participation by important travel sector businesspeople at FITUR, presenting them with attractive business opportunities in the region: “Through this initiative we seek to promote the development of the least fortunate areas in your territory, and for tourism to serve as a boost to your economy,” stated Ana Larrañaga during her presentation in Paraguay.
EXPERIENCE IN AFRICA
The first edition of INVESTOUR Americas, to be held during of one of the FITUR 2012 professional workshops, comes on the heels of positive results obtained in two previous editions of INVESTOUR dedicated to the African continent, a program which will be back for the third time during the next FITUR Trade Fair. One of the differences with the new initiative dedicated to the Americas is that the event will be open to businesspeople of all nationalities participating in the Fair, not only to Spaniards. “The idea is to promote qualified contacts between investors and tourism options so that they can lead to business opportunities which mean a contribution to these countries’ development, while at the same time advancing sustainable tourism,” Larrañaga underscored.
Along with INVESTOUR Americas, the next edition of the Fair will see other new developments such as the creation of two new sections based on travel type: one dedicated to camping, and another to religious tourism. In addition, projects undertaken in previous years will be developed further, such as FITUR LGBT, FITUR GREEN and INBOUND SPAIN.
