SPAIN'S largest tourism trade fair, FITUR, kicked off today in Madrid and almost every region in the country will have a stall – as well as dozens of other nations worldwide.
However much local councils cut their trade fair budgets, FITUR is the one they will not miss because the benefits in extra visitors and deals with tour operators far outweigh the costs.
Mindful of the need to offer more than just great weather and beaches, each region – and the towns within them individually – seek out their own unique selling points.
On the Costa Blanca, Jávea hopes to promote its excellent scuba-diving schools and spectacular underwater scenery as a great reason to visit, while Dénia is looking to capitalise on its recent declaration as UNESCO Creative Culinary City, an honour also held by Burgos (Castilla y León).
And this year, green, gay, health and shopping tourism are among the most-promoted areas.
On the FITUR Health stand, private hospitals and clinics, spas and even fertility centres and plastic surgeons are marketing their services – holidays where women can get IVF treatment combined with a spa or beach break are now commonplace, or even a spa and hip-replacement operation on the private sector.
Health tourism – done legally – has seen a rise in income for Spain of over 20% in the last year.
The FITUR Gay stand is enjoying huge success, with the number of slots having gone up by 300% in five years.
Now homosexuality is no longer taboo in the western world at least, gay and bisexual women and men make up 10% of the planet's travel industry – a higher figure than their actual population, which shows this is a potentially lucrative.
The 'pink pound' represents between 15% and 16% of tourism spending and Spain alone sees over six million gay and lesbian tourists arrive, spending over €6.1 billion in total – over €1,000 a head.
Spain is acknowledged to be one of the world's safest and most accepting countries for gay and lesbian expats and visitors, with same-sex marriage now having been legal for 11 years, meaning couples travel there as tourists to get married in the sun when they are unable to do so still in their own country.
Although most homosexual men and women on holiday do not specifically seek out breaks with a 'gay theme', they still have to be careful about where they travel and what they say to people, especially couples, given attitudes ranging from strong disapproval through to death penalties and unpunished 'corrective rape' still a feature in numerous countries.
To this end, travelling to Spain, where they will be safe and treated no differently is a huge advantage.
Tour operators are beginning to see the economic potential in promoting themselves as 'gay destinations' – with greater legal, social and medical difficulties involved, fewer gay people have children, and their limited 'field' means far more of their lives spent being single; this means they are more likely to be homeowners and career-focused with higher salaries and fewer family commitments and expenses.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com