The International Tourism Trade Fair organised by IFEMA will concentrate the worldwide tourism market from 17 to 21 January in Madrid and generate major business opportunities. China, which received 59.3 million tourists in 2016 (4.2% more than in 2015) and experienced 19% growth in international tourism expenditure between January and August 2017, will bring an extensive range of proposals to FITUR 2018, the International Tourism Trade Fair organised by IFEMA, which is due to be staged from 17 to 21 January in Madrid. Trade Fair visitors will thus learn about the multiple possibilities offered by a country with a millennia-old civilisation, a vast culture, an important gastronomic offer, attractive natural landscapes and a rich contrast between millenary tradition and modernity.

 

In 2016, Asia and the Pacific were at the forefront of worldwide growth in international tourist arrivals, with a 9% increase. By country, China was among the major territories, together with France, the United States and Spain. As for international tourism revenue, China occupied fourth place, after the USA, Spain and Thailand. China, the United States and Germany headed outbound tourism in their respective regions in 2016 and remained at the top of the ranking in expenditure in that order.

 

FITUR 2018 will be the global meeting point for tourism professionals and become yet another year the leading trade fair for Latin America’s inbound and outbound markets. The Trade Show will intensify internationalisation, segmentation and the application of technology in the tourism industry. The first item will see growth thanks to attracting new countries and companies, while the second one features an outstanding novelty: the incorporation of the FITUR Festivals section, a space that will give impetus to new tourism networks through the opportunities offered by the world of live music as well as the promotion of festivals already in existence and the destinations that host them. This section is added to the rest of firmly consolidated areas that demonstrate FITUR’s segmentation: FITUR GAY (LGBT), FITUR HEALTH, FITUR SHOPPING, FITUR B2B and INVESTOUR.

 

Another major novelty at FITUR will be the presentation of 5G prototypes for application in the tourism industry as a result of the work being done in research and development by IFEMA LAB 5G, launched by IFEMA and 5TONIC in September and which will act as a prelude to learning about the possibilities offered by an innovative technology that will completely transform the way tourism is experienced and managed in a trade fair setting as well as giving access to virtually unlimited, real-time communications, data and computation services.

 

Some of the prototypes on display at FITUR 2018 will be based on applications such as “Augmented Trade Fair”; “Time Travel”, which will enable access to all the trade fair sessions in real and delayed time; “Translator”, a multilingual interpreter in real time open to all trade fair attendees; and “Teleport”, an immersive, three-dimensional teleconference service.

 

In this same line, and as it does every year, the Trade Show will continue with the FiturtechY areas and its four forums specialising in sustainability, business, future and destinations as well as with FITUR KNOW-HOW & EXPORT, which will offer Spanish tourism businesses the possibility of showing their tourism potential, knowledge, services and products to buyers from other international markets. In addition to this, the Trade Fair will stage Investour, the Tourism Investment and Business Forum for Africa.

 

At FITUR, China will show why, after Italy, it is the country worldwide with the highest number of sites included by UNESCO in its World Heritage list. Other major attractions are the broad diversity of its landscapes and climates, which has much to do with the vast size of its territory. To this we must add a rich cultural and historical heritage, with sites that will be in the minds of all Trade Fair visitors, such as the Great Wall or the Forbidden City.

 

Related News in Chinese: FITUR2018将呈现新的亮点，让展商和观众获得更好的与会体验