FITUR 2019: A global hotspot for increased MICE opportunities

Monday, February 11, 2019

FITUR, the international tourism fair got bigger than ever for the global tourism industry professional in terms of participation, international scope and content. The 39^th edition was in line with the industry’s record growth both in Spain and worldwide.

Organized by IFEMA and held between 23-27 January at Feria de Madrid, the leading event for both inbound and outbound Latin American markets expanded its B2B area focused on MICE tourism (Meetings, Incentives, Conference and Events).

A two-day workshop FITUR MITM –MICE & Business was launched in collaboration with GSAR marketing to generate contract meetings between buyers and exhibitors at the show.

There were up to 30 pre-arranged appointments between the exhibiting companies and 100 international executives. Only 100 top-tier international executives with the highest business potential were approved even though more than 600 companies from 60 countries were pre-registered.

It included 22% of corporate enterprise, 24% incentive agencies, 8% international associations, 8% tour operators, 21% event, congresses and trade show organizers and 17% of business travel representatives.

Spain, the host country of FITUR is growing strongly in MICE tourism that yields the highest expenditure per individual tourists. In terms of international conferences held and as per the data from International Congress and Convention Association, Spain ranks fourth globally.

An Overview 

Sustainability, specialization and inclusion of new technologies were on focus along with features like tourism management, trade contacts and promotion of destinations and traveler experience that are transforming the industry.

Between January and September in 2018 as per the WTO the world’s destination received 1000 million international tourists showing a 5% year-on-year growth. Around 78.4 million foreign tourists were welcomed in Spain during the first eleven months of 2018 and its spending went up by 2.8% garnering €84,811 million. Spain’s outbound tourism saw increased spending which was 12.3% up between January and October 2018.

This year saw 886 main stand-holders showing a growth of 8.3% and participation from 10,487 companies across 165 countries and regions. The Spanish presence was up by 6% along with new additions from official delegation like Djibouti, Finland, Ras al-Khaimah Emirate, and Sierra Leone.

It had  exhibitors from the Cook Islands, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, French Polynesia, Serbia and Sweden. Considering participation by regions the highest growth in 2019 was  by Africa (15%) and Europe (13%).  FITUR’s country partner was Dominican Republic and the new features that were added in this edition area the FiturNext Observatory, FITUR CINE/ SCREEN Tourism and FITUR ES MUSICA festival.

« Back to Page

• FITUR 2019 focuses on MICE tourism, expands business opportunities