All The Fun Of The Tourism Fair

The Fitur tourism fair in Madrid was deemed a great success on account of a record turnout of 225,000 visitors. But its success can be measured in other ways, such as the massive following the fair attracted on social networks. While much of this will have been related to Fitur-specific events, not all of it will have been. There will have been exposure for destinations like Mallorca as well. The travel trade fair has always been the place for networking, contact-making and deal-making but now it isn't necessary to actually be there; it's all available through social media. Of course, it still does help to be able to do things face-to-face rather than via "Facetime", and for those who have wondered whether the regional tourism ministry ever talks to airlines and tour operators (which it does in any event), Fitur and other travel fairs provide the evidence: all the big players and not so big players gather.

The ministry does, with some justification, get criticised for its emphasis on travel fairs to the virtual exclusion of all other promotional means; its promotion budget is heavily geared towards fairs. If all that was happening was that some potential tourist was wandering onto the stand, then the criticism would be even more valid. But this, the public's participation in fairs, is only a part of what is happening. There is now a vast public which is being spoken to because of the innovations that fairs have introduced in recent years. One of these is the presence of bloggers. There were over 400 accredited bloggers from 20 countries at Fitur, and what they do is blog not only about the fair but also about what exhibitors are offering. The Balearics tourism ministry devotes part of its promotion budget to just these social media intermediaries. Their role may seem somewhat obscure, while social media, as a means of promotion, may seem to lack excitement when compared with the pizzazz of an expensive television advert, but they are representative of ways in which promotion has altered. They channel opinion, reviews and recommendations to the contemporary social media-savvy tourist, and it is acknowledged and understood that communication that is far more intimate than any advert (be it film or print) and which is review and recommendation-based is now the prime source of tourist decision-making.


All the news coming out of Fitur was positive for Mallorca and for the Balearics, even if the actual level of good news seemed to vary. On domestic Spanish tourism, for example, at one point there was talk of an increase between 10% and 15% this summer. Then it went up to 25%. It's difficult to understand how a forecast can fluctuate so significantly in the space of two days, but whoever said that such forecasting was an exact science?

The domestic market is one of the three main tourist markets, along with the British and the German, that Mallorca depends upon, and it has, fairly obviously, been in the doldrums for a few years. There was some recovery last year, but this is expected to be very much more significant in 2015. The forecast comes with a cautionary word or two, though. Spaniards have acquired sufficient confidence to throw off the shackles which were stopping them travelling on holiday, but they aren't necessarily going to be spending any more. This confidence, however, would be dented were there to be some return to economic uncertainty this year.

An interesting point about the domestic market is that less than a third of it stays in hotels. This isn't a recent phenomenon brought about by the increased availability of private accommodation. It's how it has tended to be.

The other two main markets are both expected to show strong growth in 2015. Sales campaigns in both Britain and Germany are said to be surpassing expectations. And to add to this positive news is the belief that the season will be longer this year with more hotels opening in March (and so in time for Easter in early April). For the British market, Jet2 is to begin operations by the end of March.

While this is all very positive, we will find out just how well-founded the optimism really is. Last year, there was at one time talk of an exceptional spring, only for this talk to turn to despair; May was a poor month, certainly for the hoteliers.