Turespaña stands out in Fitur 2023

King Felipe and Queen Letizia inaugurated the 43rd edition of the International Tourism Fair, Fitur 2023 on January 18 which is being held in IFEMA Madrid. The exhibition witnessed an expected attendance, similar to the pre-Covid-19 pandemic thus aiming to to consolidate the recovery of the sector worldwide. International participation is up 50 per cent on last year with the strongest growth in Asia-Pacific (163 per cent), Africa (88 per cent) and the Middle East (60 per cent).

The Turespaña stand in Pavilion 9 of IFEMA had two auditoriums, four large format screens and an exhibition area, where a wide range of presentations, forums, debates, exhibitions and other activities were offered.The three themes of the main events revolved around — 'Tourism, Culture and Heritage', 'Urban Tourism' and the challenges facing the sector following the recovery and the major projects of Turespaña.

The Royal Collections Gallery, the new museum centre of Patrimonio Nacional inaugurated in the summer of 2023, which will be one of Spain's international promotional attractions, was discussed.

In addition, Turespaña presented the results of the first 'NetflixTurespaña' short film Competition, the tourist use of Heritage, Transformation and Resilience through the case of Paradores and a new project for 2023 was presented including the documentary series with Spanish television 'This is Spain'. Another new feature of this year's edition was the launch of Fitur Sports, organised in collaboration with the Afyfad association, which depicted how sports tourism is a driver of sustainable growth for the tourism industry.

This year Turespaña will also be present online. Through the website www.tourspainfitur.es/, those who cannot travel to Fitur will be able to participate in the different activities taking place at the stand, which will be broadcast live. In addition, our social media channels, Twitter, LinkedIn and Youtube of Turespaña, will be open to follow everything that happens at the stand, which can also be followed with the hashtag #TurespañaEnFitur, to encourage interaction and participation of attendees.

Sustainability is the strategic focus of Turespaña's activity, promoting a more responsible tourism, and our participation in Fitur, with a sustainable stand with a zero carbon footprint. The stand will include a dynamic real-time measurement of the carbon footprint generated by visitors, and the number of trees to be planted to compensate for it. During the weekend there is a programme of events aimed at the general public: guided tours of the exhibition at the Royal Collections Gallery, viewing of the winning short films from the competition organised with Netflix and many more activities.

The fair brought together a total of 8,500 participants from all the autonomous communities, companies and destinations from 131 countries, 90 of them with official international representation.

• KT Network