The Secretary of State for Tourism, Rita Marques, maintained today, January 19, in Madrid, that the Portuguese tourism sector should reach in 2023 the level of revenue it had in 2019, the year before the Covid-19 pandemic.
The government official attended the inauguration of the Madrid International Tourism Fair (Fitur), one of the most important for the sector at an international level, in a ceremony presided over by the King of Spain, Felipe VI, who, among others, also visited the Portuguese exhibitors present. .
Rita Marques indicated that in 2021 the Portuguese tourism sector managed to reach 50% of 2019 revenues, at the end of this year it expects to reach «70 to 75%», so that in 2023 it will be possible to match the entries of 2019.
In the 42nd edition of Fitur, which will be open until Sunday, 107 countries and almost seven thousand companies will be present at the exhibition center of the Madrid International Fair (Ifema), with the aim of «promoting the growth of tourism» almost two years after the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“[Fitur] is another opportunity for us to make our offer known, to give confidence to our entrepreneurs and to all those who visit us”, said the Secretary of State for Tourism, who also underlined the “importance” of the Spanish market. , «given its proximity and rapport with Portuguese».
The Spanish market was the second most important in 2021 in terms of overnight stays and, according to Rita Marques, Portugal continues “to work hard not only to attract Spaniards, but also all those who land in Spain” from other countries.
These tourists «from other more distant geographies can discover not only Spain, but also Portugal, through an integrated offer, an integrated Iberian offer», explained the Secretary of State.
Portugal participates in Fitur with 52 companies, seven tourism regions and Turismo de Portugal with a stand which has an area of 682 square meters.
For the president of Turismo de Portugal, Luís Araújo, also present at the inaugural session of Fitur, this fair is important «because Spain is the main market in Portugal in terms of overnight stays», and also because it is a «market of proximity» and «a market that is rediscovering Portugal».
«It is important that we come here with new ideas and products», concluded Luís Araújo, who, on the sidelines of Fitur, presented the project “Travel to Portugal Revisited”, a commitment by Turismo de Portugal to promote the country’s «literary routes».
Turismo de Portugal and the José Saramago Foundation are partners in this project, which consists of a «reconstruction», by contemporary national and international authors, of the itineraries covered in the homonymous work by the Portuguese writer, who would be 100 years old this year.
According to the organization that promotes tourism, the aim is to «put Portugal on the map of literary destinations».
According to data released on Tuesday by the World Tourism Organization (WTO), the arrival of international travelers around the world grew by 4% in 2021, but this number is 72% lower than that recorded before the Covid-19 pandemic. XNUMX.
According to the latest UNWTO Panel of Experts, most tourism professionals (61%) indicate better prospects for 2022 and most experts (64%) estimate that international arrivals will return to 2019 levels “by 2024 or later” », against only 45% in the September survey.
With the Dominican Republic as a partner country, this year's Fitur is expected to welcome around 90 people, 60 of whom are professionals, between today and Sunday, with the first three days open only to professionals in the sector and the weekend also to the public. , as usual.
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