FITUR Lingua, the section dedicated to language tourism, will hold its event on Wednesday 22 January in Pavilion 10 of IFEMA MADRID under the motto 'Language as a tourist asset: challenges and trends'. The event, organised by FITUR in collaboration with FEDELE (Spanish Federation of Schools of Spanish as a Foreign Language), will feature a full programme of talks and discussion panels in which professionals, institutions and companies in the sector will address the strategic pillars for the evolution of this constantly growing sector.
This programme will cover aspects such as the fundamentals and data of the sector, success stories in language tourism in Spain and other countries, current challenges and opportunities for growth, as well as the crucial role of public policies and international collaboration in the development of language tourism.
Consolidated since its creation in 2021, FITUR Lingua will also have a networking area for FEDELE member centres that will be able to interact with agents from different tourism segments interested in linguistic tourism. In this way, the section is positioned as the meeting point for linguistic tourism where language will be valued as a driver of cultural, educational and economic development.
Full programme of FITUR Lingua 2025, Hall 10 of IFEMA MADRID
10:30 – 11:40 Sector fundamentals: Research and database for language tourism.
10:30 Welcome and presentation of FEDELE, with Eva Laguna, president of FEDELE
10:45 Preliminary data – Sector Report 2024, with Daniel Escalona
11:00. Discussion panel on the data available in the sector and the needs it presents, moderated by David Trigo with the participation of Cristina Ceballos, Faculty of Tourism and Finance at the University of Seville and Bárbara García, researcher collaborator of Spain Education Programs
11:40 – 12:15 Beyond Spanish: success stories in language tourism in other languages
11:40 The language tourist in Spain and other countries
11:50 Discussion panel on language tourism in other countries and how to improve tourism services for language learners. Moderated by: Elena Fernández.
Participants: Sossy Vega, SIC International Student Identity Card, Carlos Soler Montes, ELEUK and Marcelo García, Association of Language Centers in Argentina
12:15 – 12:45 Break enlivened by a catering service
12:45 – 13:45 Language tourism challenges: transforming challenges into growth opportunities
12:45 Presentation on the main challenges of recent years and how they have affected language tourism
13:05 Discussion panel on current challenges and undetected opportunities
Participants: Francisco Gutiérrez, as speaker and moderator, Daniel Escalona as speaker and moderator, Guillermo Escribano, Secretary of State for Spanish in the World and David Gómez, from the Visit Valencia Foundation of the Valencian Community.
13:45 – 14:30 Towards an institutional strategy: Role of Public Policies and International Collaboration
13:45 Presentation of good practices, strategy and results in international collaboration
14:05 Institutional interviews on new projects and agreements to be reached between institutions
Participants: María Córdoba, as speaker and moderator, Nuria Vaquero, Instituto Cervantes, Scott Markham, FECEI (Spanish Federation of Language Education Centers) and Eva María Pulido, ICEX Spain Export and Investment.
14:30 – 16:00 Networking of participants enlivened with a glass of Brut wine.
Source: FITUR.