Madrid, October 2011. FITUR, the International Tourism Trade Fair, which will take place from 18 to 22 January 2012, aims to serve, now more than ever, as an effective tool for the tourist industry. With this objective in mind, the fair's organisers have strengthened their initiatives aimed at promoting meetings between professionals, effectively creating synergies that are likely to open up new business opportunities. Among these initiatives, the fair will stage the second edition of the FITUR Workshop, where professionals from all over the world who have been invited to the fair through the Foreign Buyers Programme can hold B2B meetings with the exhibitors at the fair itself. This year, in order to adapt to the interests of the participants even more closely, it will be the exhibitors themselves that choose the buyers who are invited to the fair. This guarantees a high degree of interest in the corresponding interviews and, in turn, the potential for business at these meetings.

B2B interviews are also an essential tool in the INVESTOUR Africa initiative, which will be staging its third edition in 2012. In this respect, a series of pre-arranged interviews will be organised between Spanish entrepreneurs and top representatives from the African tourist industry, including both the public and the private sectors, based on the participants' different business profiles and preferences. Furthermore, as a new feature at this edition and thanks to the excellent results achieved with this initiative throughout Africa's tourist industry, INVESTOUR America will be inaugurated. This new scheme will place representatives of tourist initiatives and projects on the American Continent in contact with potential partners, this time aimed at any exhibitor among the 166 destinations and regions taking part at the fair.

Also with a view to providing a boost for the tourist industry, FITUR 2012 will host the staging of a Brokerage Event, which aims, among other objectives, to create new opportunities to find trade and technology partners throughout Europe, to facilitate the exchange of experiences with other companies from the international market, and to open up new opportunities for marketing products, services and technologies linked to the field of tourism.

Focusing on Areas of Greatest Potential

In addition, at its year 2012 edition, FITUR will seek to highlight one of the business segments of greatest potential within the market: LGBT. Following the excellent results achieved at the first edition, the fair aims to raise the profile of this segment, boosting the participation of companies and destinations that specialise in the LGBT segment. The fair will also strengthen the conferences aimed at professionals who are interested in reaching this sector of society.

Another of the aspects that the fair will continue to strengthen and promote consists of the sustainability of tourist establishments. In this case, FITUR GREEN, which is organised by the fair in conjunction with the WTO, will stage its third edition in 2012, introducing professionals to the latest-generation solutions and to the companies that are able to  help them set up tourism models that are more eco-friendly. And in order to highlight the important role that technology plays when it comes to achieving this goal, this edition of FITUR GREEN will feature the participation of the Hotel Industry Technological Institute (ITH), a body that will contribute all of its experience within the field in order to boost the sustainability of the tourist industry. 

For the second consecutive year, FITUR will also provide the setting for the staging of the National Congress on the Management of Travel Companies, an event organised by the Iberian Association of Travel Company Managers (IBTA). This Congress will enable a number of leading travel managers attending the event, all of whom have a high professional profile and decision-making power, to be introduced to the products and services on show at FITUR, thus providing new trading opportunities for the fair's participants.

In short, in its endeavour to bring the leading players within the tourist industry together, FITUR seeks to provide a boost for the travel sector, whilst ensuring that professionals gain maximum benefits from their attendance at the fair.

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