Alex Trelinski
THE King and Queen of Spain officially opened the country’s prestigious tourism fair (Fitur) in Madrid on Wednesday.
It’s the 45th staging of the event with representatives from 156 countries and 250,000 people expected to visit the Ifema centre through to Sunday.
King Felipe and Queen Letizia also toured the various pavilions including a visit to to the Valencia region stand in recognition to what the area endured as a result of October’s flood disaster.
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Many regional presidents were in attendance including for the first time, the leader of Catalunya in the form of Salvador Illa from the PSOE socialist party.
As many as 9,500 tourist-related companies – 500 more than last year – will be in Madrid with 884 exhibitors spread over nine pavilions.
The fair has areas like Fitur Cruises; Fitur Screen, which will connect the film industry with tourism; Fitur Sports, promoting sports tourism; and Fitur Techy, which explore the balance between technology, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and tourist sustainability.
The royal couple also greeted the Ministers of Tourism from various countries and dropped into the Brazil pavilion.
Brazil is a partner country for Fitur this year after Mexico quit in October due to a diplomatic spat when King Felipe was not invited to the inauguration of its president, Claudia Sheinbaum.
After around 90 minutes, the royal tour finished at the Morocco pavilion.
