ANDREA LOPES – New Delhi
Feria Internacional de Turismo or FITUR as it is better known as, the leading trade show and platform for the Latin American, Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries, has increased the floorspace for its international exhibitors, including India. Speaking to Express TravelWorld, Ana Larranaga, managing director, FITUR said, “We have re-organised the exhibition and allocated more space for the international exhibitors. The purpose of this visit was to meet our existing exhibitors.” Further, she added that India was the largest market from the Asia Pacific region exhibiting at the trade show. “India occupied the sixth or seventh position when we entered this market about seven years ago,” she said. 72 per cent of the total trade participation at the fair comes from the Latin American region, Portugal and Spain.
Speaking about the economic situation in Europe and how Spain was coping with the same, Lourdes Sierra, commercial manager, FITUR said, “Tourism is the industry that is coping best at the moment. UNWTO is talking about resilience and perhaps this is a good time for everyone to look at how they can work on new strategies. There was a three per cent growth in global tourist arrivals and a 6.1 per cent growth in outbound tourism from Spain. But for 2012, the forecast is 3.5 per cent.”
Asked to point out any trends in travel, she said that short haul was getting more popular and that more people were booking late. FITUR has currently sold 80 per cent of the floor space.
