2012 International Tourism Fair Opens in Madrid
January 19th, 2012
The International Tourism Fair 2012 (Fitur), which was inaugurated in Madrid on Wednesday by the Prince of Asturias, opened with an exhibition space of 75,000 square metres spread over 9 pavilions and with 9,500 companies participating.
The event kicked off with 9% less exhibitors than in the previous Fair and a reduction of 12.5% of the contracted space, due to the various different public administrations’ budget cuts, resulting in the number of exhibitors dropping from 10,434 in 2011 to 9,500 this year. The surface occupied this year in the IFEMA Trade Fair Centre has decreased by around 10,000 square metres to about 65,000 over the 74,327 square metres it covered in 2011. This decrease is mainly due to the cuts undertaken by different public administrations, since participation in the business area has grown by around 4%, and has reached an increase of 20% in the case of its international presence.
Diario Sur reported that most of these increases are at European level, as well a growing presence being noted in some emerging markets, especially in Africa, while America maintains more or less the same presence than a year ago, increasing its participating destinations such as Cuba or Venezuela. Bangladesh is officially represented at the Fair this year and others like Arzerbaiyan,Taiwan and Haiti have returned to exhibit again.
In the area of businesses, whose participation has increased by 4%, companies such as Orizonia, Iberostar, Hotelbeds, Oasis Hotels, Iberia, ADIF, AENA and RENFE have reinforced their presence at the show. One of the biggest cutbacks was registered in the autonomous communities: Murcia does not have a stand this year, Andalusia is still represented but on a reduced budget, the same as the Balearic Islands who announced that their budget for exhibitions would be reduced by half. Castilla-La Mancha has drastically cut its exhibition space, as have destinations such as Benidorm and Ceuta, who have also reduced their budget by half.
The CEO of IFEMA, Luis Eduardo Cortes said that as organisers of the show they are sorry, but understand and accept the situation, and also said that measures had been taken to encourage exhibitors to participate, such as giving a discount of 10% for ‘prompt payment’. The President of the Governing Board of IFEMA, Jose Maria Alvarez del Manzano, also pointed out that this year many small municipalities “who in better times came to the show independently, have now grouped together and concentrated their efforts.”
Positive Outlook
It is anticipated that the thirty-second edition of the Fair will end with a similar number of visitors or even higher than in 2011, when the figures reached 209,260. These figures contradict the argument of the French public tourism promotion organisation, Atout France, who announced they would not participate this year in Fitur because it is getting more expensive (up 12.5%) and has fewer visitors (5% less than five years ago).
Cortes responded to this saying that any country has the right to change its annual programming priorities, but that “what it is not entitled to do is give false information.” In this context he said that the number of professional visitors has actually increased, and the price (130 euros per square metre) is cheaper than other fairs such as those in Berlin or London.
Fitur have organised a full program of activities for the weekend for the general public, where they can participate and win prizes. This program includes photograph exhibitions, games and activities and also during the weekend an Interactive Folklore Marathon, an event which allows ‘travellers’ to discover the cultural and artistic heritage of different countries and regions attending the fair through their dance workshops, crafts and gastronomy.
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