Madrid Turismo by IFEMA MADRID Takes Stock of its First Year of Activity

Madrid Turismo by IFEMA Madrid convened the 'Madrid Experts in Tourism Panel' last Friday to take stock of the projects and the international communication and promotion actions rolled out during its first 12 months of activity.

It's been a year since the Madrid Experts in Tourism Panel held its first meeting to launch this project, driven by the Regional Government of Madrid and Madrid City Council, with the collaboration of IFEMA MADRID's management. With this project, the promotion of Madrid as a tourist destination in long-haul source markets will be done under a single brand and in collaboration with Madrid's tourism industry.

With a budget of 36 million euros, the project has so far approved a total of 20 million euros of investment in five front-line actions: 7 million euros in major digital marketing campaigns; 5 million euros in air connectivity; 3 million euros in branded content; 3 million euros in co-marketing; and 2 million euros in KOLS and influencer marketing campaigns. All of them target the USA and Canada, Latin America, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Middle East, China and Southeast Asia.

The budget has also been distributed by markets and geographic areas to ensure the greatest potential for attracting high-impact international tourism, with 36 per cent allocated to the USA and Canada, 25 per cent to connectivity with Asia, 19 per cent to Asia, 13 per cent to LATAM and 8 per cent to the Middle East.

The Deputy Minister of Culture, Tourism and Sport, Daniel Martínez, stressed that "Madrid Turismo by IFEMA MADRIOD is a benchmark for public-private collaboration in tourism in Madrid and is already delivering important results". "We will continue to promote this project to intensify the promotion and positioning of Madrid as a tourist destination in distant markets such as North America, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East," he added.

Almudena Maíllo, the Madrid City Council Tourism Delegate for Tourism, highlighted on her end that "in Madrid we have made a qualitative leap in our strategy for international promotion. With relevant importance and weight, we are seeing that there has been an exponential growth driven -especially- by the North American and Latin American markets, thanks to public-private collaboration".
 

Air Connectivity

In terms of air connectivity, a commercial plan has been put in place to establish talks with more than 10 airlines with the ultimate aim of establishing direct links to strategic destinations in Asia, increasing the frequency of existing connections, and signing an agreement with Iberia for the new Madrid-Doha air connection, a project that will provide 44 new connections in Asia-Pacific and 26 in the Middle East, with an economic impact for the region of 55 million euros in the first year.
 

Promotional Activities

During this first year, promotional actions were implemented in 16 countries, all of which are considered to be favoured destinations in terms of the high-value outbound tourism they offer. All had previously undergone approval and bidding processes. The project includes major B2B and B2C digital marketing campaigns, campaign websites in 11 languages, the development of branded content pieces in the main general and economic media, co-marketing actions with paid media and TTOOs, key opinion leaders (KOLs) and influencer marketing campaigns, presentations in long-haul source markets, and the production and generation of content for the #onlyinmadrid campaign.

These important digital marketing campaigns include the creation of audiovisual and written content adapted to each market and an ambitious media plan through which the target audience is reached thanks to rigorous segmentation work. This plan includes social media campaigns, Connected TV, Discovery and Paid Search on Google and digital presence through native and display adverts.

In terms of branded content, the activities linked to the investment resulted in six articles published by The Washington Post, The Business Times Singapore, Condé Nast, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and Business Traveler Middle East, and more than 20 articles already signed up for publication in the near future.

In terms of Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) and influencer marketing, a total of 550 informative promotional contents highlighting Madrid's main values, including gastronomy, fashion, art, culture and sport, were produced and launched in the USA, Canada, the Middle East and Asia, achieving a total of 131 million views (surpassing the annual target in one month), 19 million interactions and the activation with five Asian celebrities being officially appointed Madrid Turismo ambassadors by IFEMA Madrid.

With regard to investment in co-marketing actions, activations have been closed with more than 20 key companies in the sector, aimed at luxury segments to access high-value tourists, in collaboration with tour operators and means of payment in the USA, Canada, Brazil, the Middle East and Asia.
 

A project that looks to the future from an international Madrid

These actions are all aimed at the strategic objectives of the Madrid Turismo by IFEMA MADRID project, led by Yolanda Perdomo. These include improving the positioning of the region and the city of Madrid amongst tourists and strengthening the Madrid brand internationally, increasing the impact of tourism promotion and marketing activities under the criteria of efficiency, quality and sustainability; while establishing channels and tools that enable a coordinated planning of Madrid's promotional activities with public organisations and Madrid associations and companies alike.

In the words of Juan Arrizabalaga, Managing Director of IFEMA MADRID, “Madrid Turismo by IFEMAMADRID is not only strategic for Madrid´s positioning as a preferred destination for high value tourism at an international level, but also for the different actors that make up the tourism industry and are ambassadors of the Madrid brand. Therefore, we are proud to be at the forefront of the management of this ambitious promotional project, and to contribute to it from our position as the main player of business tourism in the country”.

The Madrid Experts in Tourism Panel is the advisory body of the Madrid Turismo by IFEMA MADRID project and is the driving force behind the creation of specific working groups, called Thematic Tables, to identify priorities and specific needs for each strategic area or group of long-haul inbound markets. The Panel has members of the main tourism associations in Madrid (AEHM - Corporate Association for Hotels in Madrid, CEIM, FEMAV - Madrid Federation of Travel Agencies, Hostelería Madrid and OPC Madrid) as well as the designated companies that represent them on the Panel, including Acotex, Corral de la Morería, El Corte Inglés, Four Seasons, Iberia, Marriott Madrid Auditorium, Melia Hotels International, NH Hotel Group and The Madrid Edition.

Madrid Turismo by IFEMA MADRID has a total budget of 36 million euros to invest in promotional activities in these long-haul source markets until December 2024. The main objective of this initiative is to position Madrid as an exceptional, first-class holiday destination, the greatest cultural destination in the world, consolidating the "Madrileño lifestyle" as a major differentiating aspect of Madrid in relation to competing destinations.
 

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