FITUR 2018 will host the 9th staging of INVESTOUR

The International Tourism Trade Fair, FITUR 2018, held by IFEMA from 17 to 21 January 2018 in Feria de Madrid, will yet another year become the stage for the 9th Tourism Investment and Business Forum for Africa, INVESTOUR, organized jointly by FITUR, the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and Casa África. This event, a full-day session on Thursday 18 January, will discuss some of the most pertinent topics for the African continent, prominent among them the situation of the Africa Brand and its impact on the African continent’s tourism.

As in previous stagings, the Investour Forum will cover two sessions, respectively holding two round tables and B2B business meetings.

The first table will debate on “Africa Brand: promoting tourism development and investment opportunities”. It will provide an interesting context in which to share already-adopted political measures to successfully manage a destination’s brand.

The second round table, with the title of “biodiversity as the driver of sustainable tourism: the importance of the community’s effective participation”, will identify an integrated approach to harmonise sustainable tourism with the protection of biodiversity, and will put emphasis on how to involve the local community in the efforts to conserve biodiversity. In this regard, the forum will also become a space for exploring and drafting well-established policies committed to developing sustainable tourism, maximising the benefits of investment and improving public and private collaboration.

The INVESTOUR Forum will also operate as an inclusive platform that will gather together and bring into contact political heads, international investors seeking business opportunities in the African market and project titleholders so that they can explore different and innovative ways of increasing investments in the tourism industry and in other fields of the tourism value chain with the aim of encouraging specific initiatives that contribute to developing the tourism industry in Africa.

Over the years, INVESTOUR has grown and become one of the major catalysts for the development of African to urism in Spain. The last staging recorded a record 400 participants from 42 countries and 28 African ministers and delegation heads.