Catalan Tourism Exhibition closes in Bacelona

The Catalan International Tourist Salon (SITC) in the city of Barcelona, closed on Sunday after three days of activity to promote tourism in the region in the north-east of Spain. The SITC is held every year in the FIRA exhibition center in Barcelona and this year contained numerous events linked to gastronomy, wine tourism, cruises and camping, as well as other of tourism offers in Catalonia. Almost all of Spain's 17 Autonomous Communities were present at the exhibition offering opportunities such as draws to win free holidays, wine and food tasting and performances from traditional artists to promote their tourist opportunities. One of the major attractions was section named "Eat the World," which was an area dedicated to traditional Catalan food, while the "MTourism" zone looked at tourism trends for the present and future and the "Innovation Zone" invited new tourism companies to present their innovative projects. The Spanish tourist sector currently represents around 11 percent of the country's GNP, while 11.8 percent of the country's jobs depend on the sector. 2013 was an important year for the tourist sector in Spain as the country received 60.66 million visitors to become the third largest tourist destination in the world, behind France and the U.S. and pushing China into fourth place in the ranking. Spain has also seen a subtle change in the type of tourist it attracts with increasing numbers, especially Chinese and Russian visitors paying greater attention to Spain's possibilities as a destination to go shopping, to eat well and visit historic and cultural monuments. Catalonia, which has a diverse tourist offer which ranges from ski resorts in winter, to beaches in summer, as well as the city of Barcelona and all that city has to offer, is the most important tourist destination in Spain. Last year Catalonia welcomed 15.6 million tourists, 25.8 percent of all those who came to Spain. China, Cuba, Morocco, Turkey, Egypt and Croatia were among many other countries promoting their tourism offers at the SITC exhibition.