La Consejería de Cultura, Turismo y Deporte carries out a national and international promotion of Castilla y León focusing on those tourist products in which the Community is a leader, such as wine tourism, rural and nature tourism, and heritage tourism.
February 22, 2025
Castilla y León |
Consejería de Cultura, Turismo y Deporte
The Junta de Castilla y León continues with its tourism promotion strategy in national and international markets. This weekend, from February 21 to 23, Castilla y León is present at two national fairs: the first one, specialized in nature tourism, FIO, takes place at Monfragüe National Park, Cáceres; and the second one, NAVARTUR, is held in Pamplona, focusing on proximity tourism in nearby destinations, such as the regions of Extremadura and Navarra.
Nature and Ornithology Tourism at FIO
The International Ornithological Tourism Fair (FIO) celebrates its twentieth edition. It is a specialized event in nature observation and ornithology, where Castilla y León showcases its potential as a leader in rural tourism and with a wide range of nature tourism offerings, promoting the revitalization of rural areas through specialized proposals in active tourism, hiking, cycling, ecotourism, and sports tourism in nature.
The Consejería de Cultura, Turismo y Deporte participates in FIO with a promotional stand of 18 square meters, alongside the Trino Club of Ecotourism of Castilla y León, for the promotion and commercialization of specialized tourism products. Within the nature tourism offerings, the 33 designated natural protected areas, 35 Nature Houses distributed throughout the Community, ten Biosphere Reserves, and the Las Loras Geopark are promoted.
At a professional level and with the aim of commercializing the tourism offerings, Castilla y León is present at the contracting market organized by the FIO fair, which includes the participation of 29 specialized tourist operators from Spain, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Switzerland, Sri Lanka, and the USA.
Extremadura is a priority market for Castilla y León due to its proximity and the type of tourism it demands. Last year in 2024, the Community welcomed 187,812 visitors from Extremadura, an increase of 13.64% compared to 2023.
Navarra, a priority market
Castilla y León participates in the NAVARTUR fair at the ‘Baluarte’ Congress Palace in Pamplona, with a 40-square-meter stand, where the provincial tourism boards of Burgos, León, Palencia, Salamanca, Soria, and Zamora are also present. Continuing the promotional line started at FITUR Madrid last January, the Junta emphasizes the idea of Castilla y León as a film destination, and the stand is themed with graphics and the slogan ‘Castilla y León, a movie setting’.
NAVARTUR had 49,992 visitors in 2024, a 23% increase from 2023, with around 800 professionals. During the fair, the Junta participated in the contracting market last Friday, which includes 16 tourist operators from Spain, Portugal, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States.
Castilla y León is a highly appreciated destination for the Navarrese public who attend each edition of the NAVARTUR fair to learn about the tourism proposals and novelties of the Community. Navarra is a priority market for Castilla y León due to proximity, characterized by a public that is familiar with the destination and demands very specific products in terms of heritage and cultural tourism, gastronomy, and nature, seeking to discover new destinations in Castilla y León. The travelers from the Navarre Region who visited Castilla y León last year in 2024 were 133,756, an increase of 7.61% compared to the previous year’s data.
International Promotion in Oporto
The Junta de Castilla y León participated on February 17 and 18 in the ‘Wine & Travel Week’ fair in Oporto alongside the Wine Routes of Castilla y León. This is the second year attending this specialized international event, which last year had Castilla y León as the guest Community. The ‘Wine & Travel Week’ turns Portugal into the epicenter of global wine tourism for a few days with this event that has established itself as a premium meeting worldwide, receiving important international awards.
This year, the Consejería de Cultura, Turismo y Deporte was accompanied by the Wine Routes of Arlanza, Arribes, Rueda, and Zamora. Additionally, the Junta held around fifty work meetings with some of the 150 sector professionals from around the world present at the fair.
Last year in 2024, 271,832 tourists from Portugal visited Castilla y León, an increase of 14.59% compared to the previous year’s data, positioning the neighboring country as the second largest tourist emitter to the Community, only behind France. The objective of the Consejería is to continue promoting tourism and increase promotional proposals in a market of great interest for the Community such as Portugal.