IFEMA MADRID has been showing a lead in terms of the return to safe face-to-face tradefairs worldwide through its commitment to the FITUR International Tourism Trade Fair held last month. FITUR 2021 saw the participation of 5,000 companies from 55 countries, with more than 62,000 attending in-person.
The event, promoted by UFI, the global association of the exhibition industry and AFE, the Spanish Tradefair Association, had a special significance this year due to the urgent need to revitalise key activity for the global economy.
The trade exhibition sector internationally contributes nearly €179bn to global GDP, directly involving 4.8m exhibiting companies and attracting 353m visitors, as well as creating 3.4m jobs directly related to fair activities. IFEMA MADRID, specifically, in 2019 claims to have had an economic impact of €5.1bn, a sum that represents 3.8% of the GDP of the city of Madrid and 2.2% of the GDP of the Madrid region, creating 39,343 jobs in the process.
Watch the FITUR video here, released by IFEMA Madrid to mark Global Exhibitions Day #GED2021, where key figures pledge commitment to the exhibition model for the benefit of all our economic sectors:
