The fourth Fairway, which will be held from November 7 to 9, will bring together professionals from different fields, who will discuss themes of interest, dealing with tourism in general and the Camino de Santiago in particular. The Congress and Academy sections will feature more than a dozen debating tables, discussions and workshops, bringing together more than 50 experts from different fields. The initiatives will be held simultaneously on Monday, November 8, and Tuesday, November 9, and can be followed both in person and via streaming.
In the case of the Congress, the themes will focus on the sustainability of the Camino de Santiago and other aspects regarding the way forward in the short and medium term. The matters that will be discussed include, for example, the status of the different Jacobean Routes after 18 months of pandemic or the situation facing pilgrimage tourism in the following months. Also on the agenda is the internationalisation and marketing of the upcoming 2022 Holy Year. The confirmed participants include experts such as Juan Gestal, emeritus professor of Preventative Medicine and Public Health.
For its part, the Academy section will reinforce the event’s commitment to practical sessions, after Fairway’s success in previous years. There will be a total of four workshops and three round tables dealing with different aspects of digital marketing. To that end, the event will feature the presence of such renowned experts as Joan Marco, who will speak about tourist copywriting; Clara Soler, who will impart sessions on Social Ads for the tourist sector; Ignacio Fernández, whose workshop will focus on managing Google Ads and SEM strategy, and Julia Rey, who will lead a discussion of digital tools for accommodation establishments such as Yield & Revpar Management. In view of the practical nature of these sessions, all participants are advised to bring their laptop.
In the case of the round tables, the themes will centre on experience-based branding (imparted by Laura Rampérez, CEO of Inturea); Marketing Automation (which will be moderated by Andrés Romero, CEO of Asiri Marketing), and digitalisation as a factor of tourist sustainability (featuring the participation of, among others, the president of Segittur, Enrique MartÃnez). Although all activities are free, you must book beforehand on www.fairwaysantiago.com since there is limited seating.
Workshop and Fair
In parallel, from Sunday, November 7, onwards, the public can enjoy an extensive fair featuring 60 exhibiters. The fair will bring professionals and visitors into contact with a wide variety of destinations, including the autonomous regions throughout the different Camino de Santiago routes (Castile and Leon, Asturias, Cantabria, Basque Country, Aragon, Navarre, La Rioja, Catalonia…), Porto-North or associations of the municipalities of the Camino, such as the VÃa da Prata route, the French Camino in Spain or the Portuguese Camino in Portugal.
In addition to these institutional initiatives, other exhibiting companies will offer services related to the equipment sector (such as automatisms, disposable items, bed bunks, merchandising and even jewellery). Furthermore, there will be initiatives by different companies providing cultural, tourist and leisure services, who will present their post-Camino proposals.
In addition, Fairway will be a meeting place for the sector’s companies, promoting meetings between tour operators and tourist destinations by means of the Workshop section. The event’s hybrid format will enable professionals from all over Europe to attend the event in person (in the facilities of Compostela’s Congress Hall) and increase the range of hosted buyers from other continents, such as America, Asia or Australia, who will participate online. The fair will thereby acquire a more international nature.
Activities for everyone on Open Day
The Fairway’s organisation is also finalising all the preparations for holding Open Day. This will turn the event into a tourism fair in which those in attendance can discover different tourist destinations, as well as participating in a range of activities for all ages.
These initiatives are admission free, after prior registration, thereby complying with all COVID-19 prevention and safety protocols. A large part of the programme of the Fairway’s first day will focus on routes, gastronomic proposals, dialogues and leisure activities.