International tourism fair in Madrid presided by Spanish Queen
Queen Letizia of Spain opened the 36th edition of the International Tourism Fair FITUR 2016 in Madrid
The five-day event welcoming more than 9.500 companies from 165 countries will end on January 24th. Over 220.000 visitors are expected to visit FITUR 2016.
The 43-year-old royalty Queen Letizia of Spain opened and attended the international business fair held in the country's capital.
The tourism event, that gains more and more participants every year, follows a recent United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) report regarding the increasing number of international tourist arrivals. On a global scale, this number grew by 4.4% in 2015, for about 50 million more tourists when compared to 2014 and for a total figure of 1.184 billion.
Taleb Rifai, secretary general of UNTWO, stated on this occasion:
"International tourism reached new heights in 2015. The robust performance of the sector is contributing to economic growth and job creation in many parts of the world. It is thus critical for countries to promote policies that foster the continued growth of tourism, including travel facilitation, human resources development and sustainability."
Nevertheless, according to UNTWO's statistics, regions such as Turkey, North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa experienced tourism decline within a 1% and 8% rate when compared to the previous year's figures.
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