Tourist exhibition in Madrid

VALENCIA – FITUR – Europe´s largest world tourist exhibition was opened in Madrid by King Juan Carlos of Spain on 31st January. With 187 countries taking stands in an area covering 89.000m2 there is a lot to see, and judging by the TV news reports it all looks great fun with a real holiday atmosphere. Obviously Spain has a large presence in the exhibition which is not surprising as last year a total of 58.8 million tourists visited Spain, 4.5% more than in 2005 which has broken all previous records with Brits at the top of the list. Valencia has gone all out and put on quite a show with stands taking up 5.500m2 (more than one acre of space)! It was good to hear the King make a special reference to Valencia in his speech regarding how wonderful it is that the America´s Cup will be held here. Of course, we have to remember that sailing is his main hobby!