Alberto Barciela
Vice President of EditoRed and member of the Spanish Tourism Board
In its 2024 edition, Fitur has confirmed itself as the global meeting point for world tourism professionals and, very especially, for the inbound and outbound markets of Ibero-America.
In this edition, inaugurated by the Kings of Spain, Felipe VI and Leticia, dedicated to Ecuador – the next will be to Mexico -, 9,000 companies from 152 countries – 8% more international – have been represented, with the spectacular return of France, until now the world’s leading travel country, a rank in which Spain will replace it in 2023.
At the Ifema Fairgrounds, 826 stands have been installed, which have occupied 75,000 square meters – 25% more than in the previous edition. It is estimated that the event will be visited, until Sunday the 28th, by around 250,000 people. The data speak for themselves of a record moment and success of what Amancio López Seijas, President of Hotusa, calls the happiness industry, a leading, transversal industrial sector, which the Andalusian Tourism Secretariat, Yolanda Aguilar, describes as “he who never generates problems, but rather opportunities.”
And that is tourism: a great economic solution, which creates wealth and employment, and which demonstrates peace in the places where it works, as the intelligent and active ambassador of the League of Arab States in Madrid, Malek Twal, very well highlights. .
Prominence of Spain, which last year received 84 million tourists, with income estimated at 108,000 million euros. From Latin America, the presence of countries such as Argentina – the Patagonia stand is spectacular -, Mexico, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Peru or Brazil denotes the importance of the world of travel for these places. We must also highlight the participation of Asian and European countries, Portugal being very professional and active.
In another order, it is worth highlighting the presence of the agri-food industries, insurance – with Intermundial, in a very relevant way -, technology – Segittur, the Spanish public, chaired by that wise man called Enrique Martínez, is the reference, even now in America, and very soon in the Arab world-; transport, in which Iberia shows overwhelming strength, together with Renfe; congresses, travel agencies, sports, etc. Nothing is foreign to tourism.
As a global example, it can be said that there is a desire to travel and spend. The recovery in the arrival of international tourists to Spain is a significant indication, which has increased tourist spending, exceeding the figure for 2019 by 16.6%, in the period between January and November 2023. Therein lies the true profitability .
There is much to improve, but tourism has shown itself to be a great opportunity for the development and leisure of people, a mature and thriving industry that only claims to influence aspects such as co-governance, security – legal, physical, health, etc., qualified labor, flow management, connectivity, deseasonalization, border transit facilities, sustainability, modernization of mature destinations and water, and better services such as taxis, little else, as has been demonstrated in forums packed with audiences and talent such as Cimet, Hotusa or Exceltur, held in the days prior to the fair. Personally, I miss a greater European institutional presence, which denotes the need to work on a continental tourism policy.
María Valcárcel, director of Fitur and her team, Ana Larrañaga, de los Mozos, Ifema and especially the new Minister of Industry and Tourism of Spain, Jordi Hereu, and the Autonomous Communities deserve a special congratulation, to which I would add the great work of the sector associations, such as the Tourism Board, chaired by Juan Molas, -Évoris Award-winner- or the Exceltur of Escarret.
