The International Tourism Fair of Latin America (FIT-LA) began this Saturday at the La Rural property in Buenos Aires, where it was inaugurated by the Minister of Tourism and Sports, Matías Lammens, and its president, Gustavo Hani.
Is 26th edition of the largest tourism fair in Latin America and one of the three most important in the world, which will last until next Tuesday with the expectation of receiving about 100,000 visitorshas the participation of the 23 Argentine provinces, the City of Buenos Aires (CABA) and 52 countries.
In his inaugural speech, Lammens argued: “We have to leave tourism out of the loop. We have worked side by side with the governors of the 24 provinces and with the support of the private sector. The results are visible: we are no longer talking about the recovery of the industry, but about growth”.
The minister spoke accompanied on the podium by the highest authorities of the private tourism sector in the country, including the organizers of the FIT, other national officials and those of the host city, and in front of an audience that included many more representatives of organizations, entities, organizations and companies in the sector.
The @tourismfair most important in Latin America opened its doors in #LaRural. ???
? https://t.co/BTiqD9VIt1#FIT2022 pic.twitter.com/OypddFjZrN
— Ministry of Tourism and Sports (@TurDepAR) October 1, 2022
“Tourism is one of the great industries in Argentina and leads the employment growth rates. In addition, we are recovering the pre-pandemic levels of receptive tourism and we expect to exceed them by the end of the year. We continue working to make the sector one of the motors of the development of our country”, added Lammens.
Then Hani explained, who pointed out that “the FIT is unique. Last year we gave the initial kick to reopen meeting tourism and received more than 70,000 visitors. This time we are convinced that we are going to break all records and we are going to have a wonderful fair”, in reference to the challenge of exceeding 100,000 public admissions, which he mentioned opportunely.
In addition to presiding over FIT 2022, Hani is president of the Argentine Chamber of Tourism and the Argentine Federation of Associations of Travel and Tourism Companies.one of the two organizing entities of the meeting, together with the Association of Travel and Tourism Agencies of Buenos Aires.
“We appreciate the Pre-Trip 3. By the end of the year, more than six million Argentines will have traveled through our country thanks to this tool, which has consolidated a formality that we have been asking for. The more Pre-Trip we have, the more employment we will generate in the sector”, assured the businessman.
Officials and businessmen present
The other national officials who were on the stage were the Secretary of Tourism Promotion, Yanina Martínez; the executive secretary of the National Institute for Tourism Promotion, Ricardo Sosa, and the president of the Federal Tourism Council, Sebastián Giobellina.
This space was also shared by the president of the CABA Tourism Entity, Lucas Delfino; his peer from the Argentine Confederation of Medium Enterprises, Alfredo González; the vice president of the FIT, Mario Ijelman, and Enrique Pepino, president of Ferias Argentinas, entity in charge of the integral realization of the Fair.
Among the attendees was the president of Aerolineas Argentinas, Pablo Cerianiwho told Télam Radio that the FIT “is a symbol and is the meeting of the entire industry, at a time when it is recovering very strongly and that we hope that it will continue along the same path next year”, in which the flag carrier is “an important player in this recovery, because we are a very important part of the sector”.
“We are growing very strongly, during the winter season we were practically transporting domestic pre-pandemic passengers,” he said when evaluating the activity of Aerolineas Argentinas.
He then announced that “in what is the summer season we will surely be exceeding it by 5% and the international market is recovering a little more slowly, we are now at 70% and we hope to have it recovered by the middle of next year. “.
LIVE | With the presence of Minister Matías Lammens, the 26th edition of @tourismfairin #LaRural.
? https://t.co/DCCGU1ZL3u#FIT2022 pic.twitter.com/zYlhqTkUh9
— Ministry of Tourism and Sports (@TurDepAR) October 1, 2022
He too governor of Tierra del Fuego, Gustavo Melellaspoke with this agency and commented that today they are launching the summer season in their province at the FIT.
“Tierra del Fuego is magnificent in all four seasons,” he continued. “One has the snow season, which is magnificent, but summer is incredible with those very long days, when the sun rises at quarter past three, half past three in the morning and the sun comes up almost at midnight, and it has tons of trails for walking, hiking, the north zone with bird watching in the Rio Grande, and sport fishing.”
Melella also mentioned “Tolhuin, in the heart of the island, a magnificent place, dreamed of, surrounded by mountains, the lake and the forest; you have horseback riding, you have walks, and then you have Ushuaia, which is a dream place, from the end of the world, the gateway to Antarctica with cruise ships”.
The Minister of Tourism and Sports of Río Negro, Martha Véleztold Télam that being at the FIT, “is very significant, also with an important deployment of the province, not only through the presence at the Patagonia stand, but also with multiple activities, talks, conferences.”
He also referred to “La Trochita, which is a tourist emblem of our region, of the steppe, a railway product, as a protagonist in this international fair.”
