The countdown has started for the thirty-fourth staging of the International Tourism Trade Fair , FITUR 2014, one of the grand global events for the tourist industry and the leading trade show for the Latin American market. With just fourteen days to go before the trade fair itself opens (next 22 January), the final preparations are being made for this important event, which will be preceded by two highly prestigious forums: the Seventh EXCELTUR Tourism Leadership Forum, the Alliance for Tourism Excellence; and the Ibero-American Conference of Tourism Ministers and Businessmen (CIMET). Around 9,000 companies from 165 countries and destinations will come together at FITUR in order to establish contacts, do business and set out the tourism agenda for the year. In this respect, FITUR has organised an important Hosted Buyers Programme, a series of B2B meetings and a number of specialised forums that will provide a preview of the latest new trends and offer solutions for new challenges facing the industry.
 

 

Hall 3 will host the exhibition for the Americas and for FITUR LGBT; Hall 4 will encompass Europe; Halls 5, 7 and 9 will host the attendance of official bodies and organisations; Hall 6 will feature North Africa and the Near East; Hall 8 will present Asia; and Halls 8 and 10 will present tourism companies alongside the forums known as FITUR KNOW-HOW & EXPORT, FITURGREEN, FITURTECH and RECEPTIVO ESPAÑA (INBOUND SPAIN).
 

FITUR 2014 is the first event of the year for the tourist trade and will take place at an especially propitious time for the industry, according to the latest figures corresponding to last year. In this respect, both throughout Spain and worldwide the number of tourist arrivals increased by 5%. Up until September 2013, there were 845 million more tourists throughout the world than during the same period in 2012, according to the UNWTO Barometer. Meanwhile, up until last November Spain welcomed a total of 57.6 million tourists, according to the Frontur Inbound Tourism Border Survey.

Related News in Chinese: 2014西班牙国际旅游交易会即将拉开帷幕