FITUR Sports, which will show how sports tourism is a driver of sustainable growth for the tourism industry, will be the meeting point for both to highlight the potential of this lever for socio-economic development, analyse its challenges, share knowledge and generate business opportunities. All of this is part of FITUR’s aim to continue to deepen its role as a benchmark and promoter of the tourism industry, deepening its knowledge and dissemination of the main niche markets and business segments with the brightest future in the global tourism industry.
FITUR Sports will complement the other 9 monographic sections already present at FITUR, linked to types of tourism, market segments and the dissemination of knowledge (Mice, Know-how&Export, TechY, Talent, LGBT+, Lingua, Screen, Woman and Cruises), making it possible for the entire tourism industry ecosystem to come together at the fair.
Sports tourism in all its facets
FITUR Sports, which will hold the 1st FITUR Sports Tourism Summit on 19 January 2023, will address sports tourism in all its facets: sporting events, training camps, sports holidays... The new section, which will include a knowledge day and a networking space, will analyse in this first edition high-participation events (marathons, trail races, triathlons, cycling marches, amateur tournaments...), and national and local events. It will also focus on training camps (training stays for professional and amateur teams) and sports holidays (sporting trips without competitive ambitions related to golf, skiing, bicycle tourism, tennis, active tourism...).
International sporting events with a large audience (F1, Champions League, LaLiga, Tennis, Basketball...) will be the focus of the second edition.
This first edition focuses on active sports tourism. Among the contents to be discussed at FITUR Sportswill be sports tourism as a driver of territorial, economic and social development; sports tourism and sustainability; sports tourism, innovation, technology; marketing and commercialisation of sports tourism; and synergies and opportunities between the tourism and sports industries. In addition, it will show how sport events and sport and physical activity tourism can respond to the global challenges of the Sustainable Development Goals.
In recent years, sports tourism has increased notably in importance for both destinations and companies, due to the fact that it helps to deseasonalise the season; it boosts territorial development in non-tourist and non-urban environments; it generates image and brand and positions destinations internationally; and it also has a visitor profile with an above-average level of spending.
Sports tourism in Spain generated expenditure of 2,416 million euros in 2021, 36.8% more than the previous year, although the figure reached 7,151 million before the pandemic, according to data from the National Statistics Institute (INE), so its potential for boosting and relaunching remains very important.
AFYDAD, Spanish Association of Manufacturers and Distributors of Sporting Goods, is a non-profit professional association, founded in 1968, whose objective is to promote the competitiveness of companies in the sports industry through a range of specialised services and to represent the common interests of the industry both nationally and internationally.
Tags: FITUR, IFEMA MADRID
