<h6><strong>The Diplomat</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The King and Queen inaugurated this Wednesday the 40th International Tourism Fair (FITUR), which takes place at the IFEMA MADRID exhibition centre and which in this edition has Brazil as a partner country.</strong></h4> FITUR is the global meeting point for tourism professionals and the leading fair for the receptive and issuing markets of Latin America. It is also a global reference event in the tourism sector. This 45th edition, which is being held at IFEMA MADRID from 22 to 26 January, “reflects the positive balance of the industry, and revalidates FITUR's leadership as the world's leading fair in terms of participants and attendees”, according to the organisers. It has a broad institutional and sector representation: 9,500 participating companies, 156 countries and 884 main exhibitors who will display their offer in 9 pavilions, highlighting the 101 countries with official representation. Don Felipe and Doña were accompanied by the Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu; the Secretary of State for Tourism, Rosario Sánchez; the President of the Senate, Pedro Rollán; the Secretary General of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Zurab Pololikashvili; the Presidents of the Autonomous Communities of Catalonia, Andalusia, Cantabria, La Rioja, the Valencian Community, Aragon, Castile-La Mancha, Extremadura and the Balearic Islands and the City of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas. Also present, among others, were the Mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez Almeida; the President of the Organising Committee of FITUR and Executive President of Iberia, Marco Sansavini; and the President of the Madrid Chamber of Commerce and Vice President of the Governing Board of IFEMA, Ángel Asensio. The King and Queen took a tour of the site, which began in Pavilion 10 with a visit to the EUROPCAR stand. They were then greeted by the FITUR Organising Committee, continued through the Iberia stand and headed to Pavilion 9, where they visited the TURESPAÑA stand and attended the screening of a video on the 40th anniversary. Don Felipe and Doña Letizia also greeted around forty international tourism ministers present at the fair. In addition, the King and Queen visited the stands of Madrid, Cantabria, Castilla y León, La Rioja, Catalonia, Aragon, Castilla-La Mancha and the Valencian Community. At each stand, there were the presidents of the different communities and their tourism advisors, among other authorities. The visit continued in Hall 3 with the Brazilian stand, a partner country of the 2025 FITUR edition, where the King and Queen were received by the Minister of Tourism of the South American country, Celso Sabino, the director-president of the Official Agency for the Promotion of Tourism in Brazil (EMBRATUR), Marcelo Freixo, and the Brazilian ambassador to Spain, Orlando Leite Ribeiro. Don Felipe and Doña Letizia concluded the inauguration at the Moroccan stand, where they received greetings from the ambassador of this country in Spain, Karima Benyaich, and the CEO of Tourism of Morocco.
