The Spanish royals have lent their support to the tourism industry, returning to one of the world’s largest tourism fairs in Spain as the country gets ready to relaunch itself as a top tourist destination.
The FITUR: International Tourism Fair opened in Madrid on May 19th 2021, with King Felipe and Queen Letizia officially opening the Fair.
The FITUR Fair has, over the years, welcomed 11,040 companies from 165 countries and regions in a bid to increase tourism to Latin American markets. This year’s theme centred around recovering from the coronavirus pandemic: Special Tourism Recovery, and will, throughout its run, look at how to reactivate tourism, which organisers called a strategic and essential sector for the economy.
After meeting with representatives from Spanish communities, King Felipe and Queen Letizia visited the pavilion centred on the country of Georgia and met with Georgian Prime Minister, Irakli Garibashvili.
At the Georgia Meet Connect Zone, they watched a presentation of Georgian dancers who currently live in Spain and met with the CEO of the NH Hotel Group, the NH Operations Director, and the CEO for NH Sur de Europa.
The Spanish royals also viewed the displays put on by exhibitors including Aena, Renfe, Adif, Enaire and Puertos del Estado and met with Iberia employees who worked throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
King Felipe and Queen Letizia also visited a booth for the TURESPAÑA to talk with tourism advisors of all of the Autonomous Communities in Spain and later visited a booth for Madrid tourism to meet with representatives there.
At an opening event, Javier Sánchez Prieto, President of the Organizing Committee of FITUR and President of IBERIA, SLU, said, “We have passed the worst crisis in our history, but we are here to stand up together and help drive the recovery of the Spanish and international economy, and to help the world get back on track, resuming travel as one of the distinctive elements of the progress of our society.”
