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Today, Wednesday 22nd January, the International Tourism Fair in Madrid, Fitur 2020, opens its doors for the 40th time. It is an essential event for the Canary Islands tourism brand, who will be providing the backing for around 600 companies from the archipelago and nearly 1,200 professionals from the tourist industry, in a year which national tourism has experienced an important growth in the Canaries. In fact, 2019 has seen the national market cement its recovery, reaching two million Spanish tourists, a rise of nearly 14% compared to the previous year, a figure which has offset the drop in foreign tourists as year-end figures top an estimated 15.1 million tourists in total, a fall of 4% compared to 2018.

Fitur is considered one of the three most important tourism fairs in the world, and every year the event attracts leading national and international travel agents, tour operators, airlines and tourist entrepreneurs. Over 250,000 people are expected to attend, of which 140,000 will be professionals, together with around 8,500 official journalists and bloggers, and over 5,300 different media representatives from all over the world.  

Intense work schedule

The Canary Islands will be present at Fitur with a pavilion covering 1,425 square metres, 85% co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER), which will feature an intense work schedule with representatives from the national and international tourism industry. Meetings are expected to be held with top representatives from tour operators and airlines such as Volotea, Jet2, Vueling, EasyJet, Eurowings, Wizz Air, Iberia Express, Air Europa, Ryanair and TUI, with the aim of improving air connectivity with the islands.

Meetings will also be held with managers from online travel agencies such as Edreams, Destinia, Last Minute-Rumbo, and tour operators such as Globalia and Via Sale. In addition, meetings are expected to be held with the Spanish Tourism Offices from cities and countries including Berlin, Stockholm, Poland, London, Oslo, Singapore, Mumbai, Toronto, Viena and Brussels, in order to monitor current trends in these markets.

A modern and functional stand

For this year’s Fitur, the Canary Islands will be reusing the design, elements and equipment from the stand assembled at the World Travel Market in London last November. Its main features include functionality, necessary for hosting the many eagerly-awaited professional meetings, with the purpose of projecting a solid and attractive image of the values of the Canary Island brand and its island destinations, each of which have their own space set within the stand. For the second successive year, the Association of Tourist Municipalities of the Canaries, AMTC, will also have its own specific area in the Canary Islands brand, to enable it to hold its meetings and presentations.

The stand is equipped with state-of-the-art audiovisual elements, and includes an open area for professional meetings capable of holding up to 120 people, 43 information booths, a freshly-squeezed fruit zone and another area for sampling and tasting typical products, plus many other meeting rooms and a press office, in addition to the above mentioned promotional areas for each island and the AMTC.

The Canary pavilion already earned accolades at last year’s Fitur fair, when it came away with the award for best stand in the category of Institutions and Autonomous Communities, with the jury highlighting “a design which perfectly combines the islands’ natural surroundings with state-of-the-art technology and an impeccable spacious area for visitors to walk around freely between all its counters”.

Nominted best tourist chatbot and voice app

The Canary Island brand comes to Fitur as a finalist in the award which recognises the best tourist chatbots and voice apps awarded by the organisation itself along with SEGITTUR, the organism affiliated to the Secretary of State for Tourism.  

Specifically, Turismo de Islas Canarias has been nominated for the development of intelligent loudspeakers from its Canaryfulness campaign which promotes the islands’ natural surroundings. Islas Canarias is competing with two other finalists in the category of tourist destinations, among them the chatbot of the Lanzarote Public Local Corporate Entity and Art, Culture and Tourism Centres.

The finalists will be assessed by a jury comprising representatives from Fitur, Turespaña, IBM, the Town Hall of Málaga, Chatbot Chocolate and EGITTUR. The winners will be announced on Thursday, 23rd January as part of Fitur Know-How and Export.

This is the competition’s second year, in which it recognises the importance that conversational assistants are acquiring to help tourists on different stages of their trips.