It's over FITUR, one more year. This has been the 36th edition of the most important International Tourism Fair in our country, one of the most important in the European market and the most important, without a doubt, in the Spanish-speaking world.

Big numbers

From the first day it seemed to me that there were fewer people, fewer visitors, although the data IFEMA They point in the opposite direction: 232.000 visitors, 6% more than in 2015, with an economic impact on Madrid of 210 million euros.

It has been the first year that, at least on the first day, there was a rigorous control of passes and perhaps that will lead to the figures offered by the fair being more realistic on this occasion.

According to the fair, the international weight continues to grow: 125.000 professionals and 9.605 companies from 165 countries, with a 4% growth in foreign companies, and 178 new exhibitors, of which more than 50% are international.

And an extremely important fact: 6.200 appointments scheduled, 25% more than in 2015.

We all know that a fair is important if we have previously done a good job of scheduling interesting meetings and are able to continue them afterwards.

We must also highlight the elements related to communication: more than 7.500 accredited journalists and bloggers; that have caused a huge impact on social networks.

However, we must not forget where we come from. In 2007 the fair occupied 10 pavilions and 80.000 square meters, now there are 8 pavilions and about 57.000 square meters. Although fewer meters or fewer visitors do not have to mean less business, as in the calculation of tourism success, more visits does not have to mean that we are doing better.

FITUR is still alive

Without a doubt, the fair holds up well. Despite the criticism, the doubts about its usefulness, it is certainly a very large and generalist for small and specialized operators like us, but where almost everyone coincides for 3 days. Of course, sometimes they are so busy that it is very difficult to get them to listen to you for 5 minutes.

A fair where a company like ours does more business in consulting or training than in the sale of travel.

Despite notable absences, such as Germany, , Italy, The Netherlands y United Kingdom, or the only partial return of France, with a stand Tahiti, a decision that has surely been very, very thoughtful, since FITUR is not a cheap fair.

However, for Latin American countries, FITUR continues to be their gateway to the European market, their best showcase, and it seems that this will continue to be the case until a large fair is born in Latin America. Chile has returned to FITUR and Costa Rica It has been used thoroughly, with a media footballer and a marketing plan that is committed to recovering the European customer. Meanwhile, we will continue to see more and more of these destinations also at the trade fairs. London y Berlin.

Another of the markets that flocks to FITUR is the African one: Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso (for the first time), Cameroon, Congo, Mauritania, Zimbabwe,… With more modest investments and stands they come to FITUR with a great offer, sometimes still poorly structured; They still need to work on their tourism product creation process but their potential is incredible.

We held a meeting with Safari Dunes, a Portuguese agency based in Namibia and that offers safaris in Southern Africa and that valued its presence at FITUR as very positive, for the first time with a stand.

Despite everything, the majority of the entities that participate are satisfied. Although it is not always easy to calculate the return on investment of participating in a fair and it is especially difficult in the case of public administration stands, so numerous in the pavilions occupied by Spain at FITUR.

The most superlative example is Andalucía, with an exhibitor of 5.300 square meters, the same as in 2015, and which alone represents 9% of the total IFEMA space for FITUR. The investment in the stand is 889.000 euros, plus 300.000 euros in the advertising campaign, which has made Andalusia a partner of the Fair, almost 1,2 million euros to which must be added personnel, travel, promotional material, etc

Keywords

Every year there are several keywords in FITUR. Some, like technology, They seem to have come to stay, although perhaps I have the impression that there were fewer apps on the counters, I don't know if it has really been like that or that I pay less attention to them.

Another key word, which has always been present but which has stood out this year, is gastronomy, there is a change in focus and gastronomy is finally beginning to be understood for what it truly is: Culture, in capital letters. It is not just eating, gastronomy is not just a matter of restaurants, it is the product that is grown, raised, made and produced by the producers, it is the landscape and traditional knowledge, it is the wine, the oil, the bread and centuries of adaptation, of improvement.

And another key word has been to maximise security and your enjoyment., concern about the attacks that hotels, restaurants and entertainment venues are suffering in various countries is creating an enormous feeling of insecurity and fear. A moment of conversation at the Tunisia stand, a country that we have scheduled on several occasions to take bicycle trips, made it clear to us the deep concern that it generates in these destinations, which see what has been a key source of income for the country in danger. .

A key word that we have hardly heard in this FITUR and that seems to us to be greatly lacking, climate change, a key challenge for the entire society and which must be a decisive challenge for tourism.

Our participation

En As for our participation and more personal assessment, a little bit of lime and a little bit of sand, as always.

FITUR also continues to be a showcase for politicians, mayors and councilors who want their photo with their stand, which sometimes leaves aside the main usefulness of the fair.

This year we spent a lot of time at the stand Region of Madrid, which we liked more than other years, with more weight of the territory, the landscapes, the nature, although this translates into many small counters that do not give a global idea of ​​what is offered.

It is necessary to think of new solutions and proposals to generater business at the fair and look for attractive formats to show the offer of a destination.

La Sierra Norte of Madrid, a destination with which we collaborate on a recurring basis, continues to show its offer at the fair and launch proposals to attract more tourists, including gastronomy, active tourism and nature.

I spent Saturday tending the counter. AETAM, the association of active tourism and ecotourism companies of Madrid, a young and eager association that had its presentation space on Friday and was a reality check with the final audience.

Yes, there are geinterested in what you offer, but also dozens of people who only asked for pens, stickers, pins, caps, even fans, “Do you have any fans left?” was the question they asked me, is that selling tourism? We haven't done something right. In the age of the Internet you still saw many people carrying 3 or 4 bags or a trolley packed to bursting with brochures, which would surely end up sooner rather than later in the trash and hopefully in the paper bin.

Bicycles at FITUR.

With joy we began to see the presence of bikes at FITUR, in many cases they are still just a tourist attraction, at the same time
slipstream of the fashion of the moment, but it seems that it is already a relevant element and many countries include bicycle tourism in their offer, even in a general fair like this one.

It will never be the ideal fair to sell cycling vacation, but it can help a lot to make a phenomenon visible. growing that countries like France have taken as a national priority. Some communities are working with a product approach that is beginning to be very interesting, we could see some examples in Estremadura and Valencian Community.

The stand has returned to FITUR. Greenways, undoubtedly one of the great promoters in Spain of this growth, an offer that diversifies the proposal present at IFEMA and that serves as a meeting point for the different territories that have Greenways, the companies that operate in them and the thousands of people who declare themselves fans of the Greenways.

Also nature trails, the Program of the General Directorate of Rural Development and Forestry Policy where Antonio Flores presented “Towards 10.000 km of Natural Paths” and where the collaboration agreement was signed between the General Directorate of Rural Development and Forestry Policy and the Autonomous Organization Parks National Programs for the joint promotion of Natural Trails and National Parks. A joint promotion so necessary that now we find it surprising that it has not always been done this way.

Greenways Outdoor at FITUR

Taking advantage of the fair, last Thursday we participated in the workshop organized by the European Greenways Outdoor project of which we are partners and which, as on other occasions, was a success with the public. On that day, the status of the tourism product associated with the Greenways at the European level and the basic lines of work for the coming months were analyzed. Here you can read Get more info thereon.

FITUR 2016 and responsible tourism

We have also heard a lot about Health Tourism, LGBT tourism and Responsible Tourism. We have held our 8th Responsible Tourism Forum at FITUR, but it was no longer the only Responsible Tourism proposal at the fair and we are very happy about it.

The central topic of our forum was the social economy in tourism. In this context we address key questions such as these: How can we make tourism more profitable, more economically sustainable, more equitable and more distributive with local communities and with lower-level employees? Here you can read the forum conclusions.

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO/WTO) And the United Nations Global Compact They are interlocutors of the private sector for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and the 2030 Development Agenda. From this strategic alliance, the project “Responsible tourism: a commitment for all” has emerged, which was presented within the framework of FITUR 2016. The objective of this initiative is to promote social responsibility in companies and business associations in the tourism sector, as well as promoting their real and lasting commitment to ethical and universal principles in pursuit of the development of responsible and sustainable tourism.

Saturday, January 23 My Cloud organized, together with Segittur, a day dedicated to creating the foundations of a more responsible and sustainable tourism industry, within the area of ​​FITUR Know&How and Export 2016

On this day, the conclusions of a white paper were presented: “Minube White Paper: CSR: Challenges and opportunities for the tourism sector” in which 20 specialists from all over the world participated, contributing their vision on what a more sustainable and responsible tourism industry should be like.

El Spanish Center for Responsible Tourism was also present at the Minube event with the participation of José María de Juan, founding partner of the Center and director of Koan Consulting.

Just a small objection that we would like to highlight, we cannot equate CSR with responsible tourism, Corporate social responsibility It is an important element but you cannot be the only one, we must talk about governance, empowering the local population, equity, values ​​and conscience. With CSR we run the risk of falling into RSD, decorative social responsibility that we see appear on too many occasions.

In short, one more FITUR, full of ideas and projects that now require us to continue working day by day to achieve the proposed objectives and truly make tourism an increasingly responsible and sustainable sector.

There is still a year ahead but surely there are already many people thinking about FITUR 2017, we will be there.

A abrazo.