Turespaña is organising a conference in Mallorca with agents and tour operators from the USA and Canada to market Spanish destinations

The Spanish Tourism Institute (Turespaña) will organise a reverse conference to support the marketing of Spanish tourism in the markets of the United States and Canada, from 18 to 20 April 2023 in Mallorca, under the title Spain Tourism Summit 2023. Turespaña reports in a press release.

A total of 75 North American travel agents and tour operators selected by Turespaña’s five tourism departments in North America – New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Miami in the United States, and Toronto in Canada – will take part in the conference, which will be attended by 73 representatives of Spanish tourism companies and destinations.

First reverse conferences

These meetings are the first to be held in Spain since the pandemic, and their aim is to promote knowledge of other Spanish destinations, in addition to Mallorca, so that “Spanish tourism products, services and experiences are available in the profitable North American market,” says Miguel Sanz, director of Turespaña.

To this end, Turespaña has also organised, together with other Spanish destinations, different pre- and post-tours for the buyers who arrived on 13 April. Thus, agents and tour operators from these two countries will have the opportunity to discover not only the island of Mallorca, but also six other destinations on the Spanish mainland, such as the Costa Brava, in Catalonia, Galicia, Andalusia, Castile and León, Madrid and Aragon, and four in the Balearic and Canary Islands: Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Ibiza and Menorca.

During these days, the North American buyers will have two days of B2B meetings with Spanish companies and destinations. The third day will be dedicated exclusively to getting to know the offer of the island of Mallorca.

Important source markets for Spain

The aim of Spain Tourism Summit 2023 is to position Spain among the top European destinations in these two markets, as a quality, safe and sustainable tourist destination. “These two countries are very important issuing markets due to their progressive and notable economic recovery, with vigorous growth in 2022, both in terms of tourist volume and spending, and a great potential for our country due to their seasonal effect and high purchasing power,” said Sanz.

This summer Spain will have direct connections from the United States to the airports of Madrid, Barcelona, Tenerife, Mallorca and Malaga; and from Canada, to Madrid, Barcelona and Malaga.

In 2022, the expenditure of tourists from both countries exceeded the average total expenditure and per tourist. Thus, American tourists spent 5,266.8 million euros in Spain (6.0% of the total), which placed the United States in sixth place as an issuing market of tourists to Spain (2.8 million tourists) and in fourth place in terms of expenditure, with average spending per person per day of 1,889 and 266 euros, respectively, while the average stay was 7.1 nights.

The Canadian market ranks 18th as an issuer in terms of expenditure and is experiencing progressive growth, which is reflected in the more than 754 million euros spent by Canadians in Spain in 2022, with an average expenditure per tourist of 2,121 euros, much higher than the 1,800 euros in 2019, and with an average stay of more than 8 days.