FITUR 2021 is set to be the key reunion that brings the world tourism industry back together in its recovery

IFEMA will ensure compliance with biosafety protocols as necessary to enable tourism industry professionals from around the world to meet face-to-face with complete confidence.

In the present context, so affected by the need for recovery in the tourism industry, IFEMA is working on the next edition of FITUR, the leading annual meeting of world tourism professionals, which will take place from 20^th to 24^th January at Feria de Madrid. It will focus on this reality and the need to create an environment of trust and recovery for businesses and destinations.

Fortunately, FITUR is the event that kicks off the international tourism trade fair calendar and enables trade visitors to make their first contacts with the industry and establish the strategies for the entire year. Fitur will take place over five days of commercial and business activity that will focus on repositioning the Spanish and worldwide tourism provision. It will provide a showcase aimed at strengthening this sector, which is vital for economic growth, and showing future trends in specialisation, technology, and sustainability.

IFEMA’s first step has been to analyse and certify a series of measures to enable it to resume its activity and recover its strategic role in trade fairs and conferences, including FITUR. To achieve this, the IFEMA exhibition centre is already adopting all the necessary protocols based on criteria defined by the health authorities and the main international public and industry bodies. This strategy will enable us to monitor and ensure the health and safety of the different groups involved in our fairs, as well as the environmental hygiene, quality, and safety of our facilities.

Increased Safety Measures at IFEMA

Also, to help tourism’s recovery by mitigating exhibitors’ financial outlay, all FITUR participation applications received before 31st July will get a special discount on fair rates.

As every year, FITUR’s offering will include the full diversity of proposals on the current tourism scene, including destinations, businesses and special-interest areas that cover new trends, business niches and the industry innovations in spaces such as FITURTECHY,  FITUR KNOW-HOW & EXPORT, FITUR SCREEN, FITUR FESTIVALS,  FITUR LGBT+ and  FITUR HEALTH. FITUR will also continue developing people’s skills and talent by providing learning experiences about interacting with new online tourists with the FITUR TALENT space, introduced last year.

In the field of sustainability, and with a view to how tourism can be a driver for change in terms of cultural, social and environmental values, the FITURNEXT Observatory is already working to identify and select good practices that can feed into the design of positive tourism experiences for visitors, residents, destinations and our planet, with strong potential for application elsewhere. This year’s challenge is to analyse how tourism can contribute to gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Also, as part of its commitment to sustainability, FITUR will collaborate with the Institute for Responsible Tourism (ITR), to award the “SUSTAINABLE STAND” prize for the second year running. It acknowledges the efforts of exhibiting companies to make their FITUR presence a space that is environmentally-friendly and carbon neutral, while also being socially and culturally aware, and promoting good governance and economy.

FITUR is also working on its agenda of B2B meetings, both the general programme, FITUR B2B Match, and those specialising in tourism for meetings, incentives, conferencing and business travel, FITUR MICE, and Africa’s tourism offering at MEET AFRICA, which offers proven tools for promoting professional contacts and trade.

There will be an extensive programme of workshops including panel discussions, talks and inspiration in each of the Fair’s sections. We will also be organising a range of activities that each year bring together experts from across the sector organised in collaboration with the most innovative and representative companies and organisations from around the world. These include the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the Ibero-American Conference of Tourism Ministers and Entrepreneurs (CIMET), INVESTOUR and the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC).