Thus, direct participation, one of the parameters of greatest impact, will reflect an increase of 32% over the last edition of 2022, and 50% in terms of international participation - FITUR is growing in participating companies Asia Pacific by 163%; the Middle East, 60%; Africa, 88%; Europe, 42%, and America, 30%. In terms of the public, the International Tourism Trade Fair expects between 80 and 90 thousand visitors from the general public at the weekend, and some 120,000 professionals.
For the presentation of FITUR 2023, which will be held from 18 to 22 January, José Vicente de los Mozos, President of the Madrid trade fair centre, Javier Sánchez-Prieto, President of Iberia and of the FITUR Organising Committee, Mónica Bolaños, Guatemalan Ambassador to Spain, Miguel Sanz, Director of Turespaña and María Valcarce, Director of FITUR, gathered in the IFEMA press room to highlight the resilience of the fair during the worst of the pandemic.
In fact, Sánchez Prieto himself expressed his gratitude to IFEMA Madrid, on behalf of the entire tourism sector, for "its commitment throughout the years of the pandemic, which were undoubtedly decisive in the reactivation of our industry". De los Mozos, for his part, recalled how FITUR has been "the only major tourism fair in the world that has managed to hold its events every year without interruption", and that "FITUR 2023 is here to consolidate the strong recovery in international tourism activity".
A tourism recovery that invites optimism with a view to the year 2023. According to the World Tourism Organisation, international tourism is on track to reach 65% of pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2022, as the sector continues to recover from the pandemic. With regard to Spain, FRONTUR and EGATUR report that, in the first eleven months of the year, international tourists who have visited our country exceeded 67 million, representing 85% of the figures for the same period in 2019.
FITUR is not lagging behind in this recovery, and is innovating and bringing new features to continue contributing to the tourism industry. This is the case of the launch of the FITUR Sports section, which addresses one of the tourism products of growing importance for both destinations and companies, FITUR Cruises, which expands its scope to cover the B2B and B2C areas, FITUR Woman, which will focus its debate on the role of women in the world of work in the tourism industry and on the importance of female leadership in rebuilding a better sustainable and inclusive tourism, and FITUR Talent, which will highlight talent and training as drivers of tourism development, among other initiatives.
The FITUR 2023 Partner Country will be Guatemala, which will present its new brand for tourism promotion, "Guatemala. Amazing and unstoppable". The Central American nation will position its main tourist attractions, destinations and riches on a global level, in what is one of the best venues for doing so, along with different activities scheduled during the international fair, with the aim of publicising the wide-ranging offer of the Central American nation, which boasts a wealth of millennia of culture and gastronomy.
The Guatemalan ambassador to Spain, Mónica Bolaños, wanted to highlight the importance of the country's participation in the event, since "FITUR is one of the most important fairs in the world and represents a great opportunity for us to show the world our strengths and great potential as an Ibero-American destination".
Likewise, FITUR wanted to take advantage of its enormous impact to remember the situation that Ukraine is going through, so it has given the country a courtesy stand in the Europe pavilion that will facilitate the development of the Meet Ukraine programme and where those attending the fair will be able to leave their messages of solidarity.
During the press conference, the focus was on the future of tourism after the latest news from China, which points to a possible worsening of the virus situation in the Asian giant. In this regard, the President of Iberia and of the FITUR Organising Committee, Sánchez-Prieto, wanted to express that "we should not be concerned about these new outbreaks or variants, which will surely appear. We must be in line with what the authorities send us, but I don't think this is a time of particular concern".
Likewise, Miguel Sanz, director of Turespaña, pointed out that "making long-term forecasts is a toast to the sun", and that "we continue to see a positive trend in the tourism sector". "The short-term indicators for the next quarter show us that the figures continue to be positive, not only with regard to 2022, but also in relation to 2019".
