FITUR 2020 celebrates its 40th anniversary with its most professional and international edition

The next edition of FITUR, organised by IFEMA, will take place at Feria de Madrid from the 22 to 26 January 2020, and is looking to once again become the international benchmark event in the tourism industry. This year is special because, in addition to the excellent participation forecasts, which are in alignment with the positive data of the tourism industry, it is the 40th Anniversary of the Trade Show, a special occasion that will be the crowning glory of a series of initiatives that are already ongoing, the purpose of which is to provide continuity to the successful and upwardly mobile trajectory of FITUR.

Sustainability, technology and specialisation will still be the main lines of FITUR, but in addition there will be the promotion of activities aimed at growing in professionalism, representation and internationalisation and, therefore, to exceed the results from the latest edition, which brought together over 11,000 exhibitor companies from 160 countries, and 253,000 participants.

To this end, the FITUR organisers have paid special attention to strengthening their International Guest Programs, as well as the B2B meetings schedule, both for the General Program, FITUR B2B Match, and for the specialised program on incentives, meetings and business travel, FITUR MICE, which was implemented for the first time last year. Both programs have shown to be a tool with proven effectiveness in promoting professional contact and business exchanges, as seen by the 9,150 business meetings held last year within the framework of these activities.

On the other hand, and given the expected higher participation by companies and destinations, there are plans to expand the exhibition surface area of FITUR 2020, for an orderly growth throughout the 10 halls of the central axis of the IFEMA venue. Therefore, the area that FITUR had already been occupying is increased with Hall 1, which will concentrate the offer of Africa, leaving Hall 6 entirely for Asia-Pacific. The remaining areas will still have the same layout, which places the Near East in Hall 2; America in Hall 3; Europe in Hall 4; Companies, Technology and Global Companies, in Hall 8; Corporate and Associations in Hall 10, and Spanish Official Organisations and Agencies in Halls 5, 7 and 9.

FITUR will also continue to focus on the specialisation and growth of some of the recently created sections, such as FITUR CINE and FITUR FESTIVALS, which will see new platforms with a significant potential for development. The trade fair will offer again its consolidated monographic areas, such as FITUR GAY (LGBT +) and FITUR HEALTH, as well as the sections FITURTECHY and FITUR KNOW HOW, where technology is shown as an essential tool for the growth of the sector and for progress towards the smart tourism concept.

On the other hand, the FITUR NEXT Observatory continues its progress in identifying and choosing good practises to promote tourism with a positive impact throughout the world. These are initiatives that can also be replicated, that contribute to company innovation and to a better destination management, and which will be highlighted at FITUR.
Knowledge content will also have its area during the conference program of each of the trade show sections, as well as in the various activities organised within FITUR by international organisations such as the World Tourism Organisation UNWTO; Latin-American Conference of Tourism Ministers and Entrepreneurs, CIMET; INVESTOUR and the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC).