The organisers of Spanish travel trade show Fitur have confirmed that overseas delegates will be granted “highly qualified worker” status to facilitate their attendance.
This year’s event will take place in Madrid from May 19-23 and will be a ‘Tourism Recovery Special Edition’.
Organisers confirmed that Spain’s government will consider attendance as essential travel and said the worker status applied to visiting delegates would “streamline attendance”. Around 50,000 trade visitors are expected to attend.
A statement said: “This government measure has been initiated by the ministry of industry, trade and tourism and represents a significant boost to streamlining attendance at Fitur by trade visitors from abroad.
“Fitur will be a strategic edition for reviving tourism at a critical time for restarting trade meetings as part of the Spanish tourism industry’s leading platform.”
“For border control purposes, (event organiser) IFEMA Madrid is working with the government to adapt the registration processes for Fitur trade visitors from other countries to speed up the paperwork and make international access more agile.”
It added: “Fitur will bring together members of the international professional tourism community who represent the entire chain of value regarding offer and demand in the sector, with the participation of destinations, transportation, accommodation, solutions and services for the industry, as well as brokers, travel agents and tour operators.”