2009 will be the year in which IFEMA commences its activities abroad. Its first fair project will be within the field of tourism, one in which the fair institution serves as a veritable point of reference.  This fair will take place in China.

Thus, IFEMA, in collaboration with the Fair of Hanover and its Chinese subsidiary, GITF '09, will organise the International Tourism Fair of Guangzhou, located in one of the most important cities in China. In this respect, following the signature of the collaboration agreement between the two institutions within the framework of FITUR '08, this fair, which will be staging its 17th edition between 3rd and 5th April 2009, will acquire a more international character and offer a series of more professional services, making this the key trade and business forum for the tourist industry in Asia. The agreement was signed by Wolfgang Lenarz, Senior Vice President of Hanover Fairs International, Judy Zhu, Deputy General Manager of Hanover Fairs China Ltd, Luis Eduardo Cortés, the Chairman of the IFEMA Executive Committee, and Fermín Lucas, the Managing Director of IFEMA. 

IFEMA has consolidated its status as an important partner in terms of its wide-ranging "know-how" within the realm of fair organisation and, in particular, with regard to the tourist industry, as confirmed by the figures corresponding to the last edition of its tourism fair, FITUR '08, which closed the doors on its twenty-eighth edition last Sunday. In this respect, the most important tourism fair in the world concluded with the best results in the event's history, based on the participation of 13,300 companies from 170 countries/regions and a net exhibition area measuring more than 100,000 square  metres. Furthermore, the fair welcomed some 260,000 visitors. In the case of IFEMA, this agreement will help to boost the internationalisation of its activities, a priority policy that the body has been pursuing for some years now. In this respect, in the year 2007, the trade fair institution witnessed the highest level of foreign participation at its events in its history, with 23% of its direct exhibitors originating from abroad.

For its part, GITF, which has been supported by the Provincial Tourism Department of Guangdong and the Municipal Tourism Administration of Guangzhou since 1993, is currently the second most important tourism fair in Asia, based on the participation of some 600 exhibitors and a gross exhibition area measuring 17,000 square metres, not to mention 60,000 visitors.  The Guangzhou Jinhan Centre, which hosts the staging of the fair each year, measures 25,000 m2, distributed into two halls.

The favourable growth of Chinese tourism will have a highly positive impact in terms of the consolidation of this tourism event. In this respect, we might point out that the forecasts indicate that, by the year 2020, China will be the leading destination for foreign tourists, based on an estimated 130 million visitors a year, accounting for 8% of all international arrivals. Furthermore, it will be the fourth biggest tourist-producing country in the world.  To these figures we might add the sheer size of the City of Guangzhou, the place where GITF is staged. With its more than three million inhabitants, this is the most important city in Southern China, as well as being the capital of the Province of Guangdong. Its strategic location, very close to Hong Kong, has enabled the city to consolidate its status as a political, economic and cultural centre within the region, as well as being one of the three largest trade fair cities in China. This region has witnessed an annual economic growth-rate of around 17% over the last 25 years. In this sense, according to a study produced in the year 2005, if this region were considered to be an independent country, it would occupy eighteenth place in the ranking of the largest economies in the world and eleventh place in the ranking of largest exporters, even ahead of countries such as South Korea and India. 

With regard to Hanover Fairs China, a subsidiary of the Fair of Hanover, this institution is one of the most important fair organisers in the world. Furthermore, it is the largest German operator in China and currently has more than 40 employees working in Peking, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Hanover Fairs China established itself in China in the mid-1980's and, each year, it organises various different fairs throughout the country, featuring the participation of some 1,400 exhibitors and an exhibition space measuring 4,000 square metres. More than 120,000 visitors attend its fairs.

Furthermore, we might recall that, beginning in June 2004, IFEMA initiated a series of different collaboration policies with China through its agreements with the China International Exhibition Centre, CIEC. In this respect, IFEMA was adjudicated the task of carrying out a feasibility study for the design, construction and management of a new Peking Fairground. It has also imparted various courses to Chinese managers. In addition, the Madrid trade fair institution continues to penetrate the Asian continent and is currently concluding its negotiations with CIEC and with CEID (The China Exhibition Investment and Development Corporation Limited) in order to acquire capital in the company that will own the fairground.