The 45th International Tourism Fair (FITUR), organised by IFEMA MADRID, closed its doors late last month with outstanding participation and attendance figures, reaching a first estimate of nearly 255,000 visitors, with significant growth in its first three days, which welcomed 155,000 professionals. The show saw a big delegation from the Middle East & Africa region as well.
These figures reflect the strong recovery of the global tourism industry in 2024, with 1.4 billion international tourist arrivals, according to UNWTO, as well as record numbers for both Spain and Madrid, which saw 94 million and 16 million visitors, respectively. Furthermore, these FITUR figures anticipate the forecast that, in 2025, both travellers and tourism spending will also continue to grow, driven by strong demand. Worldwide, tourism-related revenues have reached $1.9 trillion, with Spain declaring 126 billion euros of tourism spend nationally and 16 billion euros in the Madrid region.
Alongside these outstanding attendance figures, and with a total of nine halls, FITUR 2025 consolidated its leadership in participation, hosting more than 9,500 companies across 884 stands. This year, FITUR brought together 156 countries from around the world, with 101 of them participating with official delegations, all vying for visitor attention.
Visit Maldives or Maldives Marketing & Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) attended FITUR 2025 with a 25-strong delegation of exhibitors – including 40 participants – as the Spanish market has been steadily increasing over the years but a remarkable surge has been noticed post pandemic, a member of the MMPRC staff explain to TTN. To maintain this interest from the Spanish market, it is imperative to be present at FITUR and increase visibility of the Maldivian product, they said. The aim is increase visitation from all key source markets, including the Middle East.
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UAE participants at the show included Arabian Connection Tourism, Atlantis Dubai, Desert Adventures Tourism, Sanyog Gupta Voyages, Splendid Travel, Surprise Tourism LLC and Yalago. Other exhibitors from the Middle East featured Egyptian Tourism Authority, Iraq Association Of Travel & Tourism, Iran Tourism, Jordan Toursim Board, Oman Ministry of Heritage & Tourism, Palestine, The Holy Land and Visit Qatar.
“I would like to see the future representation from the UAE, especially Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and of course Saudi Arabia. We have a great number of companies from the private sector from these countries – if you go around hall number six, you will see that but we would like the tourism boards and ministries to join in as well. For instance, Visit Oman always has a booth at FITUR, but this is the first time that the ministry is also joining and for us, it's very good news. Visit Qatar is also here,” Jose Sánchez Rodríguez, Commercial Manager at FITUR tells TTN. Responsible for the Middle East & Africa markets as well as travel technology sector, he adds, “Travel technology is a section that has been increasingly growing as well – we are happy to have now over 100 exhibitors in the travel technology area.”
In terms of the hosted buyer programme, Rodríguez tells us he is quite eager to work on a plan that includes hosted buyers from the Middle East and Turkey but with the resurgence of the Chinese traveller, the strategic attention has moved towards that market for this year.
“Chinese inbound is the fastest-growing source market for Europe right now. It really has come back. Not just the data, you can really see it on the streets,” Alexander Glos, CEO of Shanghai-headquartered China i2i Group, organisers of China Visitors Summit in Dubai and Riyadh, tells TTN. “For example, we work with Le Méridien Barcelona, which is located within La Rambla, one of the biggest shopping streets, the most well-known street in central Barcelona. They have a restaurant on the street level with its name in Chinese and the WeChat QR code displayed on the window to attract the Chinese who are just walking by, not counting the room business that they're also doing from China.”
“European hotels are quickly adapting to the Chinese demand and realising that they've got to do more. And it's not just about talking to people on the street, but it's talking to people before they even come to the city and to talk to them about repeat business as well,” adds Glos.
“Today's modern, new Chinese traveller is younger and tends to be more female, but, on the other hand, it's also older. You find a group of 60-year-olds who are traveling and then 36-year- olds who are traveling at the same time, but regardless of age, they're spending a lot. They're looking at luxury properties, when they used to be into the mid-level hotels and luxury hotels in Spain will testify to that,” explains Glos.
Under the theme "Proud. We Are Tourism," FITUR celebrated an edition in which all stakeholders advocated for sustainability criteria to ensure balanced and viable global growth in the medium and long term for both the planet and local communities. Additionally, experts have emphasised how diversification, seasonality reduction, and the integration of new technological tools are driving an inclusive and competitive tourism model that ensures a more sustainable future for all. This model is promoting different types of tourism that contribute to this development, including sports, film, and language tourism.
Progress toward this sustainable tourism model is also essential to preserve the right to travel for future generations, ensuring that travel remains an accessible and enriching reality.
With Brazil as the Partner Country, the fair was inaugurated on January 22 by Their Majesties, the King and Queen of Spain. The event saw the participation of all stakeholders in the tourism industry's value chain, who presented the latest trends, showcased the sector's dynamism through numerous business transactions, and exchanged knowledge and best practices to continue shaping the sustainable development of the industry.
IFEMA MADRID will return with the 2026 edition of FITUR, which will take place from January 21 to 25, with Mexico as the Partner Country.