Thursday, January 19, 2023 | 12:33 p.m.
The Argentine delegation, headed by the Minister of Tourism and Sports Matías Lammens and the Executive Secretary of INPROTUR, Ricardo Sosa, participates in a new edition of the FITUR fair, which takes place in Madrid, Spain until January 22. The wide call between the public and private sectors shows the clear objective of generating business and meetings that help the rapid recovery of incoming tourism and achieve a growth in the numbers of arrivals compared to those of the pre-pandemic.
Minister Matías Lammens expressed: “The presence of a large delegation shows the great moment that tourism is experiencing in Argentina, where we are above the pre-pandemic numbers in domestic tourism and with the great challenge of surpassing the 2019 numbers in international receptive tourism. We have the expectation of exceeding in this 2023 the seven million tourists that came in the pre-pandemic. It would be a great positive blow for the economy and we want to continue promoting the arrival of foreign tourism”
For his part, Sosa added: “The presence of 200 Argentine representatives marks the importance that our country attaches to the fair. All working together with a single vision. The first day was more than positive due to all the meetings that the operators and the public sector have. We are already in dialogue with Plus Ultra to generate three weekly flights to our country and we have important promotional advances with Iberia to strengthen the promotion of Argentina”.
Argentina has a delegation of almost 200 people who generate meetings and appointments with professionals in the sector from Spain and other parts of Europe. Among the participating destinations are: Tourism Agency of the city of Buenos Aires, Visit Buenos Aires, El Calafate, La Rioja, San Martín de Los Andes, Jujuy, Salta, Misiones, Iguazú, Santa Cruz, Bariloche, Tierra del Fuego, Chubut, Río Negro, La Pampa, Córdoba, Tucumán, Mendoza, Neuquén, San Juan, Santa Fe, Santiago del Estero. Aerolíneas Argentinas has a desk and is part of the graphics of the stand.
In addition, 58 Argentine companies convened by the Argentine Chamber of Tourism, have their space with a desk for the generation of business appointments. On the other hand, 15 entities are also part of the delegation, among which are the Association of Hotels, Restaurants, Sweet Shops and Cafes (AHRCC), the Association of Hotels and Tourism (AHT), the Argentine Ski and Mountain Chamber ( CAEM), the Argentine Gastronomy Hotel Federation (FEHGRA), the Association of Language Centers (SEA), the Federation of Chambers of Tourism (FEDECATUR), the South American Federation of Tourism (FEDESUD), the Argentine Association of Exhibition Organizers and Suppliers , Congresses, Events and Convention Bureaus (AOCA), the Córdoba and Salta Chamber of Tourism and the aforementioned CAT.
During the first day, local authorities took the traditional family photo and were able to meet with the main tour operators in Spain with the most package sales to Argentina. Among them were Tui Spain, Viajes El Corte Inglés and Nautalia. In addition, there were important advances to increase tourism promotion through Iberia and Plus Ultra. Health security, the normalization of measures, the increase in connectivity and socioeconomic opportunities make Argentina a clear objective in the eyes of the Spanish tourist when thinking about their next vacation destination.
Argentina has a modern 480m2 stand in which an important variety of audiovisual images are highlighted through its LED screens on the four sides of the stand and on its floor. In this way, all the tourist destinations are visualized and the products that can be appreciated in the Argentine territory are displayed, such as gastronomy, snow, sports, among others.
