HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN HAS INAUGURATED FITUR 2016

Madrid, 18 January 2016 - On Wednesday 20 January, at 10.30 am, H.M. The Queen Letizia of Spain inaugurated the 36^th staging of the International Tourism Fair, FITUR 2016, the Trade Show organised by IFEMA that until 24 January will bring together at Feria de Madrid the offers of 9,500 companies, institutions and  tourism organisations from 165 countries and regions.

Madrid, 18 January 2016 On Wednesday 20 January, at 10.30 am, H.M. The Queen Letizia of Spain, inaugurated the 36^th staging of the International Tourism Fair, FITUR 2016, the Trade Show organised by IFEMA that until 24 January will bring together at Feria de Madrid the offers of 9,500 companies, institutions and  tourism organisations from 165 countries and regions.

FITUR 2016 will open after the holding of two important professional encounters as a lead-up to the inauguration, the 8^th EXCELTUR Tourism Leadership Forum and the 19^th Latin American Conference for Tourism Ministers and Businessmen, CIMET. FITUR will dedicate its first three days exclusively to tourism professionals (20, 21 and 22 January) with an intense working and business agenda. It will then open to the general public on Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 January.

The Trade Show will feature the specialised forums FITUR KNOW HOW & EXPORT, FITURTECH, FITURGREEN and FITUR GAY - LGBT, FITURHEALTH and FITURSHOPPING, spaces for scheduled business meetings such as INVESTOUR Africa and FITUR B2B, the Hosted Buyers Workshop, and an extensive schedule of workshops, prominent among which will be the prize-giving ceremony of the 12^th UNWTO Awards for Excellence and Innovation in Tourism presented by the UNWTO, thus setting up a top-level business space.

At FITUR 2016, the technologies that have so greatly revolutionised both the management and the marketing as well as other spheres of the tourism business will be given centre stage with the aim of providing the keys to successfully dealing with the new challenges to the industry in regard to innovation, technology and sustainability throughout the value chain of the sector and of tourism management.

On the weekend – 23 January and 24 January – FITUR will open its doors to the public. Visitors will have the chance to enjoy the activities planned for them, such as the 6^th Travelling Gymkhana and the 7^th staging of the FITUR Travellers’ Meet-Up organised by Mi Nube on Saturday the 23^rd, or the GAYLGBT Workshops organised by Diversity Consulting on the 23^rd and 24^th, among others.

FITUR opening hours will be from 10 am to 7 pm on the first three days – January 20 to 22 – reserved for the professionals, from 10 am to 8 pm on Saturday 23 January and from 10 am to 6 pm on 24 January, the two weekend days devoted to the public.