The fair, which has announced a series of new services aimed at professionals, presents some excellent prospects following the end of the initial stand allocation process

With still five months to go before its twenty-fifth edition, the International Tourism Trade Fair, FITUR 2005, is intensifying its promotional campaign, focusing especially on the new markets. Measures have been undertaken, or will soon be undertaken, in Asia, the Middle East and the countries of Eastern Europe that have recently joined the European Union. All of these measures will mark the staging of a very special edition that will be organized by IFEMA between 26th and 30th January 2005, at its facilities at the Juan Carlos I Exhibition Centre in Madrid.

. Internationalization

This campaign, which forms part of the fair's policy of promoting the participation of a larger number of exhibitors from these regions, will provide a framework for FITUR's presence at the Arabian Travel Market (Dubai), the most representative tourism fair for the Middle East and North Africa.

Furthermore, on 2nd September, the Indian Chapter of the Pacific and Asian Travel Association (PATA) and FITUR organized an event in New Delhi featuring the participation of 175 of the most important tourism professionals from India. This conference was entitled "Optimizing Your Participation at Tourism Fairs", a meeting that served as a promotional platform for FITUR. The heads of the Conference included the following figures: the Indian Secretary for Tourism, Uma Pillai; the Vice-Chairman of PATA India, Ragini Chopra, and the Head of FITUR and Marketing Director of the International Area of FITUR, Ana Larrañaga and Lourdes Sierra, respectively.

These new forms of representation at some of the leading trade forums within the tourism industry will be complemented, this autumn, by FITUR's customary participation at the fairs known as FIT (Argentina) and ABAV (Brazil), which serve the geographical region - Latin America - that is best represented at FITUR, as well as the World Travel Market, WTM, in London.

Furthermore, FITUR has reached, for the first time, an agreement with the Chamber of Trade and Industry of Madrid, with a view to organizing an International Buyer Programme. This initiative will focus in particular on attracting the countries that have been recently incorporated within the European Union:  Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland,  Hungary, Slovenia, Cyprus and Malta. In addition, other markets will be explored, such as the US market and those of other up-and-coming countries, including India and China.

These measures will be complemented by the usual promotional campaigns in the main Spanish and foreign tourism media, including CNN International.

What is more, on this occasion the FITUR Data Base will be promoted, featuring the incorporation of almost 140,000 new registered professionals from around the world, thus enhancing the wide-ranging spectrum to which this information on the fair's new features will be presented.

. Attention to Quality

In this respect, we might highlight the new "Professionals Meeting-Point", an option on the FITURONLINE.COM Web Site, that will facilitate more fluent relations between those visiting professionals who wish to record their details on the site and exhibitors at the fair, enabling both sides to prepare their participation at the fair further in advance in order to make the most of their attendance at FITUR.

The advance reception of exhaustive information concerning the fair, along with knowledge of the visitor profile and visitor needs and objectives and, above all, the possibility of making appointments in advance, are just some of the benefits offered by this new service, which will be up and running four months before the fair opens.

Another new feature of FITUR 2005 will be the introduction of a new access system - SKIDATA -  at the Juan Carlos I Exhibition Centre, which will facilitate the fluent entry of visiting professionals to the fair, whilst permitting even tighter visitor surveillance, thus guaranteeing the trade character of the first three days of the event, days set aside exclusively for members of the tourist industry.

. Great expectations

All these new developments have been designed to offer a better service at this, a rather special edition of FITUR, namely its 25th Anniversary. The fair has already concluded its initial space allocation stage for former exhibitors. It is precisely the excellent response that has been witnessed among these exhibitors, who continue to consider their attendance at the fair to be an essential part of their marketing strategies, that provides such an optimistic outlook regarding the participation levels at the forthcoming edition.

As the most exceptional developments during the first stage, we might highlight the strong interest of a number of Sub-Saharan African countries in the fair, as well as the confirmation provided by the Valencian Region that it will occupy an entire hall (Hall 5) at FITUR. For its part, Andalusia, which previously occupied this hall, will move to Hall 3, alongside one of the monographic sections at the fair, FITUR RESIDENCIAL.

. Exhibition Layout

The rest of the exhibition will be perfectly organized  within the 10 halls and 150,000 square metres available at FERIA DE MADRID, thus facilitating visitors' attendance at the fair. Thus, the Spanish national area  - bodies and institutions - will be divided between Halls 3, 5, 7 and 9, whilst Spanish companies will appear in Halls 8 and 10, with Hall 8 also presenting the professional associations, international hotel chains and foreign specialized publications brought together at the MEDIA SPONSOR Stand.

The international area will be split between Hall 4 (Europe, North Africa and the Near East), Hall 2 (Asia, the Pacific and the Rest of Africa), and Hall 6, the habitual location for Latin America, the United States and Canada.

For their part, the other  specialized sections , FITUR ACTIVO, the Active Tourism Section, which will stage its twelfth edition, and the  Spanish Tourism Know-How Fair, FITUR KNOW-HOW, which will stage its eleventh edition, will be represented throughout the entire exhibition through the ideas presented by exhibitors under these headings.

As far as Spain's Meetings and Incentive Travel Workshop, FITUR CONGRESOS, is concerned, this event will take place, as is customary, over the two days prior to the inauguration of FITUR 2005, that is to say on 24th and 25th January, in Hall 1.

The September meeting of the Organizing Committee that guides this Workshop, which, over its last five editions has revealed itself to be an excellent marketing forum for Spain as an ideal destination for this type of tourism, provided a new boost for the event. FITUR CONGRESOS has begun its promotional campaign with the best possible prospects, featuring a strong response on the part of Spanish sellers.

Finally, TURESPAÑA, the body that promotes the fair, will continue to attract buyers from around the world, buyers whose main characteristic is their high stature.

Furthermore, FITUR will continue to shape its Specialized Conference Programme, bringing together a number of tourism experts in different fields in order to offer an in-depth analysis of the current state of the tourist industry.

Finally, the timetable at the 25th International Tourism Trade Fair, FITUR 2005, will be between 10.00 a.m. and 7.00 p.m. over the first three days set aside for members of the trade -between 26th and 28th January 2005, staying open until 8.00 p.m. on the weekend, the days on which the general public will be admitted.