Fitur and the Future

TOURISM FROM MADRID TO THE WORLD, WITH MIAMI TAKING PART

BY DOREEN HEMLOCK

Tourism shines among the world’s largest industries, with international travelers forecast to spend $2 trillion this year alone. That strength glows at FITUR, now the biggest tourism industry fair in the world.

In January, Madrid-based FITUR attracted some 136,000 tourism professionals from 145 countries for three days of industry-only sessions, plus 86,000 more people for weekend activities open to the public. Those 222,000 attendees were the most ever at the show since kickoff in 1981, FITUR leaders announced at a recent breakfast presentation in Miami.

“And we expect a new record in 2024,” says Director Maria Valcarce, predicting 250,000 attendees next year. “Our aim will be [more] growth from the United States,” she says, inviting additional Florida and U.S. groups to attend next year’s show, set for Jan. 24-28 and featuring Ecuador as its travel partner.

Just how much tourism touches these days is clear in the range of tracks offered at FITUR. The show now has sessions about: cruises, dubbed “blue tourism;” LGBTQ+ travelers, who tend to spend more than average and travel year-round; language learners, who can stay months overseas and often return for classes; sports enthusiasts, who attend events sometimes in unusual locations; and film enthusiasts, who not only frequent festivals but also visit locales where movies were filmed.

FITUR is also increasing its focus on technology, as hotels, restaurants, airlines, and other industry players now use software for everything from reservations to inventory management and HR.

Launched 42 years ago to tout travel to the Madrid area, the Feria Internacional de Turismo (FITUR) first expanded to promote all of Spain, and later found a niche in tourism to Spain, Portugal, and Latin America. In the mid-1990s, groups from the United States began taking part. This year, more than 1,300 U.S. tourism professionals attended, representing such brands as American Airlines and hotel giant Hilton. “The United States has enormous potential for us,” says Jose Vicente de los Mozos, a leader of the Ifema group that organizes FITUR and other Madrid trade shows, during FITUR’s first presentation in Miami.

Set to attend from South Florida in 2024 is the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau. The organization has been taking part in FITUR for years, and operated a booth within the U.S. pavilion in 2023, where representatives hosted meetings with tour operators from Spain, Portugal, and other nations who send groups to Greater Miami. “It’s the first travel show of the year and gives everyone a change to engage,” says Joe Docal, the Bureau’s director of travel industry sales for Europe. Engagement is especially key now, because Spain became the No. 2 source of European visitors to Miami-Dade in 2022, surpassing Germany and trailing only after the United Kingdom.

Around the world, tourism’s reach dazzles. In the five years before the pandemic, travel and tourism accounted for one in five new jobs (including direct, indirect, and induced impacts) and 10 percent of economic output globally, according to the London-based World Travel & Tourism Council. COVID hit hard, but the number of international travelers should top pre-COVID levels in 2024.

FITUR was one of the few global trade shows that continued during COVID. Organizers pushed back the 2021 fair from its usual January dates to May, but the event continued in-person. In contrast, Berlin’s ITB, another leading tourism industry show, was cancelled in 2020 and held virtually in 2021 and 2022. This March, ITB Berlin reportedly drew 90,000 attendees from 180 countries over three days. l