Today the gastronomic gala Madrid Fusión started and will continue at the Ifema fairgrounds until Wednesday 25 January. Formentera's representatives at the fair will promote the island's produce and gastronomy, hometown restaurateurs will lead cooking demonstrations and offer tastings of local products.

Alejandra Ferrer, vice president and tourism councillor, who is also on hand at the expo, spoke highly of the first day of opening: "It offered us a picture of how many people are interested in our destination and our cuisine and local produce." She applauded the participation of restaurateurs and producers "to help us promote our gastronomy at one of Spain's biggest expos and where it is clear that not only is this an added value and an attraction for our visitors, but also a reinforcement of our uniqueness and identity."

Own stand
Formentera has a stand with information about the destination, with a special focus on gastronomy. There will also be information on "From Formentera with loads of flavour", a campaign backed by the Formentera Office of Rural Affairs to elevate and promote local produce, as well as the Formentera Slow Food map, which pinpoints growers and distributors of locally sourced products, and the book "Sabors de Formentera". There will also be a section where videos are shown, as well as tables and chairs where the island's team can hold interviews with travel agents and members of the press and highlight featured products to the direct public.

Cooking demonstrations and tastings of local produce
On Monday and Tuesday (23/24 January), under the slogan "Formentera per menjar-se-la" (Formentera, finger-licking good), the restaurants Can Pasqual, Tanga, Capri, Capritxos and Quimera will offer live cooking demos pairing traditional fare, locally sourced products and innovative modern touches. There will also be tastings of local products like wine (the Terramoll and Es Cap wineries), olive oil (Sa Tanca des Clot), bread (Can Manolo), dried fish (Peix Sec Formentera), sobrassada (Carnicería San Francisco) and liquid salt (Salines de Formentera). Students in IES Marc Ferrer's hospitality programme will help serve culinary creations and local products, as well as talk to visitors about the stories behind them.

23 January 2023
Communications Office
Consell de Formentera

The Office of Tourism of the Consell de Formentera reports that between 23 and 25 January, five local restaurants and six hometown producers will take part in Madrid Fusión, a gastronomic convention at the Ifema fairgrounds in Madrid. Alejandra Ferer, vice president and tourism councillor, will attend the fair and applauded the participation of the island's restaurateurs, growers and producers.

"Gastronomy has become a tourist attraction, and local restaurant owners and producers alike have gone full-speed ahead with quality products faithful to their origins whilst delivering new sensations tuned to the imperatives of our times. Crowds at Madrid Fusión will experience this first hand as yet another of our island's draws", said Vice President Ferrer.

Formentera will have a six-meter stand offering information on the island and a special focus on gastronomy, including the book "Sabors de Formentera". Visitors to the stand will also find details on "From Formentera with loads of flavour", a campaign to elevate and promote local produce, as well as the Formentera Slow Food map, which pinpoints growers and distributors of made-on-Formentera products. There will also be a section where videos are shown, as well as tables and chairs for interviews with travel agents and members of the press.

Cooking demonstrations and product tastings
On Monday and Tuesday (23/24 January), under the slogan "Formentera per menjar-se-la" (Formentera, finger-licking good), the restaurants Can Pasqual, Tanga, Capri, Capritxos and Quimera will offer live cooking demos pairing traditional fare, locally sourced products and innovative modern touches. There will also be tastings of local products like wine (the Terramoll and Es Cap wineries), olive oil (Sa Tanca des Clot), bread (Can Manolo), dried fish (Peix Sec Formentera), sobrassada (Carnicería San Francisco) and liquid salt (Salines de Formentera). Students in IES Marc Ferrer's hospitality programme will help serve culinary creations and local products.

20 January 2023
Communications Office
Consell de Formentera

Ana Juan, Alejandra Ferrer and Carlos Bernús -president, vice-president/tourism councillor and chief of tourism marketing, respectively- are currently representing Formentera at Fitur International Tourism Fair in Madrid.

President Juan said that Formentera is presented at the expo as an "established" destination and that the island's marketing team is "hard at work promoting the quiet and respectful brand of tourism that we want." For that reason, expo attendees see an island where sunshine and beaches "fit snugly with our natural treasures, and offer of heritage, culture, fine dining and sport." Juan also cautiously highlighted "rosy 2023 forecasts for domestic tourism", which she described as "a leading market for Formentera."

Presentation
Today at the Balearic Islands stand, Vice President Ferrer and Mr Bernús presented Formentera to the press and specialised public. Ferrer rehashed memories of early tourism on the island, which has delivered quality of life improvements for residents at the same time it has thrown up many challenges, such as preservation and safeguarding the island's tranquillity. "This process has meant that the island now has a unique, familiar, simple and friendly identity where its hosts, the people of Formentera, want to welcome our guests, because they enjoy its uniqueness while taking care of it." In that connection, the crowd was shown a video titled "Formentera, an island to take care of".

Marketing activities at the expo will include meetings with specialised data and booking web portals, magazines, travel agents, tour operators and more. "We want to reinforce marketing to the travellers who, since 2022, have become the island's main market", said Ferrer, "the aim being to draw domestic tourists in the pre- and post-season or directly in the low season, since our proximity makes travel easier for these visitors."

'Blue Islands, blue and circular islands'
After the presentation, President Juan participated in another event, 'Blue and Circular Islands', together with representatives from other Spanish and Mediterranean islands. Juan joined the round table 'Women leading the change' and spoke of the "effects of triple insularity on an island facing a wintertime lack of connectivity, an issue that is finally being attended to", and "the overabundance of boats on our coastline, one of the most crowded in the Mediterranean." Juan insisted on the need to set limits, and cited examples of work being done by the administrations like controls on anchoring in the natural reserve, regulating incoming vehicles on the island and the pioneering scheme to regulate and safeguard Estany des Peix. "We strive to achieve a balance between tourism and our residents' quality of life", she added.

This year, the Balearic Islands stand is inspired by posidonia seagrass and Formentera has a specific section with various promotional material on options for tourists, particularly families outside the high season.

In pre-pandemic 2019, domestic travellers made up 29% of Formentera's visitors, second only to visitors from Italy (37.2%). In 2021 and 2022, domestic travel spiked, accounting for 50.68% and 75.56%, respectively, of Formentera's total, growth that was driven by the pandemic. Last year, Spanish tourists continued to outnumber their Italian counterparts, representing 39.28% and 28.01%, respectively, of the island's visitors.

19 January 2023
Communications Office
Consell de Formentera

The Office of Tourism of the Consell de Formentera is pleased to report that from 18 to 22 January, the Fitur International Tourism Fair will take place at Ifema fairgrounds in Madrid. There, at the Balearic Islands' new, posidonia-inspired stand, visitors will find a dedicated space for promotional material on Formentera and a special focus on all the activities and possibilities the island offers its low-season visitors.

Ana Juan, president of the Consell de Formentera, will attend the fair with Alejandra Ferrer, vice president and tourism councillor, and Carlos Bernús, chief of marketing. Bernús will take advantage of the opportunity to sit down with representatives of niche press outlets, tour operators and travel agents.

"Fitur is one of the main national expos, and in the last three years the domestic market has become a priority on our island", said Vice President Ferrer. "As usual, we will tout the island's sustainability in terms of the environment and tourism, but we will also be talking about social, economic and cultural sustainability and circularity. We will encourage visitors to come enjoy what makes our island unique while helping us to continue preserving it", she said.

Domestic market
In pre-pandemic 2019, domestic travellers made up 29% of Formentera's visitors, second only to visitors from Italy (37.2%). In 2021 and 2022, domestic travel spiked, accounting for 50.68% and 75.56%, respectively, of Formentera's total, growth that was driven by the pandemic. Last year, Spanish tourists continued to outnumber their Italian counterparts, representing 39.28% and 28.01%, respectively, of the island's visitors.

By autonomous region, the island's domestic visitors came from Catalunya (33.47%), València (17%), Madrid (16%), Illes Balears (11%) and Andalucía (8%). Domestic visitors are characteristically familiar with Formentera thanks to family or friends, and make their bookings more than three months in advance. According to the Formentera Data Observatory tourist barometer, beaches, scenery and contact with nature are the three aspects that these visitors cite most often among their reasons for coming, and the three aspects they rank the highest.

Agenda
From 11.00am, Thursday 19 January, at a presentation of the Balearic Islands involving niche media outlets and the general public, Vice President Ferrer will point up the new features that Formentera's visitors can expect to find. Later, at 1.00pm, President Juan will participate in the presentation "Blue and Circular Islands" (Islas Azules y circulares). Open days on Saturday and Sunday (21 and 22 January) will give the public a chance to get to know the various destinations directly.

16 January 2023
Communications Office
Consell de Formentera