MADRID – Their Royal Highnesses the Crown Prince and Princess of Spain inaugurated one of the world's largest tourism fair in Madrid on Wednesday. Tourism Minister Mounir Fakhri Abdel Nour, leading a high-level delegation, is representing Egypt at this significant annual event known as FITUR, which runs for five days. The 32nd, FITUR, International Tourism Trade Fair has attracted over 10,000 exhibitors from 170 countries and about 220,000 visitors of whom 125,000 are from the travel trade. The fair provides a meeting point for tourism professionals world-wide, Abdel Nour told reporters. In 2011, the trade fair attracted over 10,000 exhibiting companies from 166 countries and regions and more than 200 thousand visitors from the tourism industry and the general public. Minister Abdel Nour said that his ministry's target for the year 2012 is to increase tourist influx into Egypt after the January 25 revolution. Abdel Nour stated that the Egyptian team would focus on finding the best means for promoting Egyptian tourism, as well as motivating foreign tourists to return to Egypt. He said that he was quite confident that tourists would return to Egypt once the necessary conditions were restored. He said that the team will be parading Egypt's tourism potentials before over 30 countries that are participating in the fair in Madrid. The United Nations World Tourism Organisation will hold a number of activities at the International Tourism Trade Fair, FITUR, addressing key issues facing the sector in times of uncertainty. The gathering, he said, will be preceded by UNWTO's annual press conference at the Organisation's headquarters in Madrid, at which UNWTO will present the latest edition of its World Tourism Barometer, providing an overview of international tourism results for 2011 and forecasts for 2012. Programmes lined for the tourism fair include: Exceltur's 6th Tourism Leadership Forum, with the theme “Tourism Driving Growth and Employment: Policies to Stimulate Competitiveness” organised by Exceltur and UNWTO on the eve of FITUR. The Forum will bring together leading tourism experts to debate policies adopted by countries in which tourism has been identified as a priority to drive growth and create employment; consider new public/private partnership models in tourism; as well as outline the tourism trends expected for 2012 and the impact of the current economic situation on tourism demand.
