FITUR exceeded its forecasts in a year of record figures

The 45th International Tourism Fair, organised by IFEMA MADRID, closed its doors with excellent participation and attendance figures. FITUR has thus announced that it has exceeded its expectations, approaching, in an initial assessment, 255,000 visitors, with special growth in its first three days, which would have welcomed a total of 155,000 professionals.

These figures reflect the good momentum of the global tourism industry in 2024, when recovery has been achieved with a volume of 1.4 billion international tourist arrivals, according to UN Tourism, as well as in Spain and Madrid, which recorded new milestones of 94 and 16 million visitors, respectively. At a global level, tourism-related income reached 1.9 trillion US dollars, and Spain and Madrid followed this trend and tourist spending figures grew to 126 billion at national level and 16 billion in the Community of Madrid. In addition, these FITUR figures anticipate the forecast that in 2025 travelers and tourist spending will continue to grow driven by strong demand.

In addition to these outstanding attendance figures, and with a total of nine pavilions, FITUR 2025 also consolidates its leadership in terms of participation, hosting more than 9,500 companies across 884 stands and bringing together 156 countries from around the world, with 101 participating with official representation. This attendance also has an economic impact in Madrid of 445 million euros.

With the slogan 'Proud. We are Tourism', FITUR has held an edition in which all the stakeholders have defended the criteria of sustainability to guarantee a balanced and viable global growth in the medium and long term for the planet and local communities. In addition, the experts have emphasised how, through the diversification and deseasonalisation of the offer and the integration of new technological tools, an inclusive and competitive tourism model is being promoted that ensures a more sustainable future for all, promoting different types of tourism that contribute to this development, such as sports, film or language tourism.

Progress towards this model of sustainable tourism is also necessary to preserve the right to travel for future generations, ensuring that access to travel remains an accessible and enriching reality.

With Brazil as Partner Country, the Fair was inaugurated on January 22 by Their Majesties the King and Queen of Spain and was attended by all the agents in the value chain of the tourism industry, who presented the latest trends, reflected the dynamism of the sector through numerous business operations and exchanged knowledge and good practices to continue defining the sustainable development of the sector.

IFEMA MADRID is already working on the 2026 edition of FITUR, which will be held from January 21 to 25, with Mexico as a Partner Country.

Source: FITUR.