Rodríguez Uribes claims the importance of sport in the Spanish tourism industry
The president of the CSD participated in the inauguration of FITUR Sports at the 45th edition of the International Tourism Fair at IFEMA
-
The President of the Higher Council of Sports (CSD), José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes, has participated in the official inauguration of the third edition of Fitur Sports, thematic section of the International Tourism Fair that serves as a meeting point between the sports industry and the tourism industry.
-
During his speech, Rodríguez Uribes highlighted the EUR 36 million allocated by the government to promote sustainable sports tourism and the prestige of Spain as an organising country for major international sports events.
Madrid, January 23, 2025.- The President of the Higher Council of Sports (CSD), José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes, participated this Thursday in the 45th edition of the International Tourism Fair (Fitur), the largest event of the tourism industry in Spain, which this year brings together 9,500 companies and expects to receive up to Sunday more than 250,000 visitors in the IFEMA campus.
Rodríguez Uribes has opened the third edition of Fitur Sports, one of the ten thematic sections of the Fair and which aims to serve as a meeting point between representatives of the sports and tourism industries, with over one hundred speakers in thirty sessions during three professional sessions and exhibitions for the general public during the weekend.
The president of the CSD claimed during his intervention the weight of sport in the Spanish tourism industry and in the generation of employment and wealth.
“The sum of nature tourism and sports tourism is still far from sun and beach tourism or cultural tourism, but it has enormous growth potential. And that’s great news,” said Rodríguez Uribes.
According to the last Yearbook of Sports Statistics, 5.3 million trips in Spain were mainly caused by sport in 2023, with an associated expenditure of 2,845 million euros, which represents 4.2% of the leisure trips of the residents in Spain and 1.2% of the foreign visits.
Also, the president of the CSD has pointed to the “growing weight of sport in our country’s GDP” and in employment.
In 2023, employment linked to sport in all its fields reached a record 246,700 people, while the number of companies engaged in this sector stood at 41,180.
Boosting CSD to sustainable sports tourism and the organisation of major events
During his speech, Rodríguez Uribes stressed the two main lines of action in the field of sports tourism that “undoubtedly contributed to reaching record numbers in both the number of foreign visitors and the expenditure on destination.”
Firstly, within the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, the CSD has designed a support line to promote sustainable sports tourism. The call from European funds amounted to EUR 36 million and 124 public entities benefited from it.
A further €3.9 million from NextGeneration funds have been distributed by the CSD to increase levels of sport practice through a coordinated network of rural physical activity promoters (PAFER Network).
These aids, as Rodríguez Uribes stressed, “are helping to boost a joint supply of physical activity and tourism that is essential for the creation of stable employment and, therefore, for the social and territorial cohesion of our country”.
Secondly, the president of the CSD stressed the government's support for the holding of major international sports events.
“I think we must be very proud that our experience and our organisational capacity are recognised outside our borders,” he said, putting as recent examples of “excellent organization” the final of the Women’s Champions League in Bilbao, the pre-Olympic basketball league in Valencia, the Davis Cup and the Billie Jean King Cup in Malaga or the World Championship of Karate for Nations in Pamplona.
Rodríguez Uribes recalled that “in the coming years Spain will host several international championships”, such as the final of the World Triathlon Series (Pontevedra), the World Cup of Olympic Sailing Classes (Valencia), the World Cup of Canoeing (Lleida), the European Indoor Track Athletics (Valencia) and the Swiss European Handball.
“Five years of work that will culminate in 2030 with the World Cup, the most important sport challenge since the Barcelona Games’92,” he said.
During his visit to Fitur, the president of the CSD has also travelled, among others, the thematic booths of the City of Oliva, Saint Lucia de Tirajana and Gandía and the Provincial Council of Albacete, in which he has been able to talk with their mayors and institutional representatives about the main sports projects in these territories.