The Hon. Bartlett arrived in Spain early to join in the 45th International Tourism Fair (FITUR), one of the world’s leading travel and tourism tradeshows. This influential event will run from January 22 to 26, 2025 in Madrid where eTurboNews is also participating.
Along with providing international tourism stakeholders the venue to showcase their offerings, foster new working relationships, and explore tourism opportunities, the Jamaica Tourism Minister has a full lineup of meeting with key tourism players including Sebastian Ebel, CEO of the TUI Group; Encarna Pinero, CEO of Grupo Pinero, operators of the Bahia Principe Hotels & Resorts; Mark Hoplamazian, President of Hyatt Hotels, and representatives from development firm Invertol.
Along with other activities such as attending an award ceremony by Grupo Excelencias, the Hon. Bartlett will be participating in an anniversary event hosted by UN Tourism at the Four Seasons Hotel.
UN Tourism will likely be a strong undercurrent at FITUR as participants anticipate seeing the candidates running for UNWTO Secretary-General.
The Hon. Edmund Bartlett already has a meeting scheduled with the current UNWTO Tourism Secretary-General, Zurab Pololikashvili. Other candidates for the Secretary-General position in attendance will be Gloria Guevara, former Minister of Tourism in Mexico and former CEO and President of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC); and the Hon. Harry Theoharis, former Minister of Tourism for Greece. The fourth candidate Mouhamed Faouzou Deme, President of the African Tourism Council, board member of the African Tourism Board, and member of the World Tourism Network, is unable to attend.

We invite all candidates to share their statement.
The Spain Secretary of State was extended an invitation by the Minister to participate next month in the Global Tourism Resilience Day celebrations that will be held in Jamaica on February 17-19, 2025, at the Princess Hotel in Negril.
