FITUR 2003 will once again provide the setting for an intensive Programme of Specialized Conferences, once again made possible by the enthusiastic support of institutions, associations and companies. Over several days of intense work, the Government and business sector will find a gap in their packed agendas to analyze the state of the industry within the context of the fair. In short, the programme will provide an overview of the tourist industry and its future prospects.  


The Conferences will open on Tuesday 28th January with the Sixth Latin American Conference of Tourism Ministers and Employers. Organized by Grupo Nexo, this conference will feature the participation of the tourism heads of 12 Latin American countries, as well as the presidents of the main travel agency associations, hotels, tour operators and airline companies. This meeting will debate the topic of current tourism relations between Latin America and Europe.

On Wednesday 29th January, the Third Euro-Mediterranean Forum will take place under the heading ´Tourism Training and Education in the Euro-Mediterranean Region At Stake´.

The Conference ´Tourism and Innovation´ will take place on Thursday 30th January, organized by the Official Chamber of Trade and Industry of Madrid. Themes such as innovation as a tool for improving the service and quality of tourism companies, the new technologies, and the distribution of tourist and leisure products will be some of the matters tackled at this meeting.

The seminar entitled ´Public-Private Cooperation After 11th September and the Current State of Tourism´ will take place on the same day, organized by the Business Committee of the World Tourism Organization. This seminar will present the tourism policies and current state of three especially sensitive areas, the United States of America, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific Region, featuring the participation of the most important associations from the industry.

Advances in Tourism Education and Training: An Overview´ and ´New Tools for Enhancing Competitiveness at Tourist Destinations: The Role of Training, Education and Research´ are the two wide-ranging themes that will be tackled at the conference organized by WTO-THEMIS, the World Tourism Organization. The issues to be focused on will include the competitiveness of educational institutions in tourism, specialized WTO products and services within the area of Development of Human Resources, the new paradigm for tourist destinations and the WTO Sbest Programme for enhancing competitiveness at tourist destinations.

The Conference ´Interpretations and Responses Regarding the Maladjustment Between Supply and Demand in Spanish Tourism During the Year 2000´, organized by the Association of Tourism Experts, AECIT, and the ´Conference on Accessibility in Tourism´ by Mazars Turismo, will also take place on Wednesday.

The day´s programme will conclude with ´The Travel Manager and Conventions and Meetings´, presented by the Spanish Association of Business Travel Managers, alongside the two Conferences organized by the Institute for Spanish Tourism Quality, ICTE, ´New Tourism Quality Schemes´ and ´Environmental Quality in Tourist Companies´.

The staging of ´Legislation within the Field of Tourism Quality´ is planned for Friday 31st January, organized by the Association of Tourism Journalists Fijet-España, AEDETUR, a body that will also organize ´Professionalism as a Guarantee for Users in Tourism Communication´.

OPC-Madrid will be responsible for organizing the Roundtable ´The Promotion of the Iberian Peninsula as a Congress and Meetings Venue´, whose aim will be to analyze all the measures that are being implemented to promote the Iberian Peninsula as a congress and meetings destination, both in Spain and abroad.

Residential tourism will also be studied at the Conference entitled ´Residential Tourism as a Tourist Product´ and ´Important Aspects of Residential Tourism in Spain´ (AECIT).

The Guardia Civil (Spanish Civil Guard) will repeat its participation this year with its ´Specialized Conference on Safety´

The programme for 31st January will close with the ´Specialized Conference for the Presentation of the Network of Royal European Residences´, organized by Patrimonio Nacional (Spanish National Heritage). At the present time the Network is interested in developing a specific approach aimed at finding an adequate means of promoting the Royal European Residences as a whole and special measures of joint interest in particular, such as a unique and especially attractive range of opportunities for the tourist industry and for international wholesale agencies.

On Saturday 1st February, a conference organized specially for students by Savia Amadeus will take place under the title ´The Future of Tourism and the New Technologies´. Furthermore, the weekend will host the staging of the Twenty-Second Folklore Festival of the Peoples of the World, featuring the participation of folklore groups from Alicante, Ávila, Cádiz, Ciudad Real, Cuenca, Guadalajara, Extremadura, Indonesia, Madrid, Mexico, Murcia, Palencia, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Romania, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Tenerife, Toledo and Tunisia.