Fairway, 5th Forum del Camino de Santiago will facilitate more than 3,000 business meetings with tour operators from 16 countries within the Workshop section. The meetings will be held on November 2 and 3 in Santiago de Compostela’s Pazo de Congresos y Exposiciones.
“At present, close to 100 companies have expressed an interest in participating in these business meetings that will help to expand their business. There is still some room left for a few sellers, which will be covered in the next few says, since this is a very popular option with the sector,” explained Manuel Oreiro, one of Fairway’s co-directors. The Workshop is one of the Forum of the Camino de Santiago’s main attractions, since it enables nationally and internationally renowned tour operators to meet companies linked to the different Camino routes. “At Fairway, we provide a unique opportunity, a space where local companies can offer their services directly to decision makers,” he added.
It is precisely at Fairway that these meetings between tour operators and companies are formalised, in accordance with the demand for services. “The large tour operators are looking for suppliers to help to differentiate their travel programmes along the Camino de Santiago, always in line with the client’s profile. The person that stays in hostels is not the same as the one that prefers to sleep in Paradores de Turismo,” concludes Oreiro.
In addition, in order to promote the experience of pilgrimages to Compostela and the services available along the different Routes, Fairway also organises fam trips for these tour operators, which also include professionals from different general-interest and specialised media outlets. “We always try to promote other itineraries that are not so well known. Therefore, on this occasion, the tour operators will travel along the Camino Fisterra-Muxía, the Primitive Way, and the Portuguese Way for four days. In this way, they will be able to discover for themselves the attractions of these Camino routes,” declared the co-director of Fairway.
More than 2,000 m2 of exhibition space
Another of Fairway’s main attractions is the area devoted to the Fair. “We have more than 2,000 square metres of exhibition space, where more than 70 exhibiters will set up their stands,” explained Ana Trevisani, co-director of Fairway.
Fairway’s Fair features representatives of practically all the autonomous regions that the different Caminos de Santiago pass through. “Moreover, there will also be exhibiters form outside Spain, from different municipal districts in the north of Spain, the Kumano Kodo Trail in Japan, or even Malta, which joins the fair this year with a stand featuring the Maltese Camino to Compostela, to mention a few examples,” added the co-director of Fairway, who indicated that “the venue is admission free and completely free of charge.”
Job Market
Ana Trevisani also highlighted another new feature of this 5th Fairway: The Job Market, which will take place on Wednesday, November 1. This new section, organised in collaboration with the Ronsel Foundation, is aimed at satisfying the needs of the sector linked the Camino de Santiago, in view of the difficulty in finding specialised personnel for their companies.
In this regard, the organisation will facilitate the presentation of job vacancies on the part of companies as well as the presentation of CVs by job seekers. “Those interested in opting for one of the job vacancies just have to fill in a simple form on the website www.fairwaysantiago.com,” pointed out the co-director of Fairway.
Training, debating, and leisure activities
Fairway will round off its programme with different training, debating, and leisure activities. “This will involve initiatives in the Academy section (training workshops and round tables centred on the latest tendencies in the field of digital marketing applied to the tourism sector and the circular economy); the Congreso section (debating forums featuring matters that are of concern to the sector), and the Open Day (leisure activities for all the family, which will take place on November 1),” explained Tono Mugico, co-director of Fairway.
All these initiatives are admission free, after registering by filling in the corresponding form on the Fairway website https://fairwaysantiago.com/registration/. “It is worth noting that some of these activities have a very limited number of participants, which is why you have to formalise your booking beforehand,” he concluded.