Discover Puerto Rico sends delegation to International Tourism Fair in Madrid
A delegation from Discover Puerto Rico will arrive in Spain next Monday to participate in the new edition of the International Tourism Fair (FITUR) that will take place in Madrid Jan. 19-23.
The group will take all possible precautions to avoid COVID-19 infections during the event that brings together thousands of people in one of the main convention centers of the Spanish capital.
“We’re excited about the opportunities this event can provide to Puerto Rico’s tourism industry. We’re going to carry out all the promotional campaigns that we always do in this event, but with a more compact delegation, focusing on the meetings that can be carried out virtually and keeping us very aware that this is an event that offers excellent opportunities to do business, but also that we are in one of the moments with more COVID-19 infections worldwide,” said Edward Zayas, chief strategy officer of Discover Puerto Rico.
“We’re hopeful that in the coming weeks, the situation will improve, and we’ll return to a period of relative normality,” he said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) currently places Spain and much of the European continent among the jurisdictions with the highest risk of infections with COVID-19.
The limited delegation that will travel from Puerto Rico will work with the support of the staff of the Hills Balfour agency, which assists Discover Puerto Rico with the marketing of the island as an international tourist destination.
The Discover Puerto Rico delegation has already arranged encounters with about 40 people associated with the tourism industry interested in doing business in Puerto Rico, the entity said.
Discover Puerto Rico’s efforts are carried out in coordination with the Puerto Rico Tourism Company, which has a premium exhibit at the event.
“Our participation in FITUR it’s a part of multiple efforts of our sales and marketing teams on the European market to attract visitors. In that sense, we’ve generated a great amount of media coverage in the European media landscape, and a great number of encounters with travel agents and companies that consider Puerto Rico for their future business ventures,” said Zayas.
According to data from the U.S. Transportation Statistics Bureau, international travelers accounted for 9.5% of passenger movement to Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in 2019. Discover Puerto Rico has on its agenda for the next two years to stimulate the European travel market more, intensifying the promotion with funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARP).
From September to December 2021, Puerto Rico, as a tourist destination, appeared in 43 articles in Spain that generated 65 million impressions and had an advertising value of more than $209,800, Discover Puerto Rico said.
