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The director of Fitur, María Valcarce.
With the current times, carrying out a fair like Feature it is a huge challenge. Mary Valcarce, in command, knows it well. “We are exhausted”, he says a few hours before the doors open, interfering in that plural to his team. Because hanging the medal on a personal basis for what he has achieved – organizing the only tourism fair in Europe twice in a pandemic – is something that does not represent him. “Here we all go together”, repeat over and over once more. This Asturian by birth and Madrid by adoption, arrived at the address of the quintessential tourism event with just enough time to discover the “glory”. “I was appointed in January 2019 and I organized the 2020 fair, the 40th anniversary fair, which was a record in its entire history», indicates. But later he has had to face the challenge of making this great showcase return by doing almost a master’s degree in sanitary measures. «Fitur has been an example of resistance. It is the only major fair on the international circuit that has been held in 2020, on the 21st and 22nd”, he assures before recalling the support of the public and private sectors and the important role that the administrations have played in it. “Last year was very difficult. We lived through a lot of tension, it was very stressful and we had a bad time, but it was also very nice to fight for a common goal. it was a milestone. And this year I think the same memory will remain with me, “says Valcarce, an outstanding connoisseur of everything that is going on not only in Fitur but also in Ifema, the house that welcomed her at the beginning of her career in 1988, who has accompanied her in the last three decades and who has supported her even in the most delicate moments. «When my daughter was born in 1994 I was tempted to stop working», but following going through a somewhat «misplaced» stage, in 1997, «While on maternity leave for my second son and with reduced working hours, they offered me to direct the Motor Show», bill. «That, then, was not something very normal (…). I am a working person. It is not that nobody has given me anything, but in another company they would have removed me from the race, ”he adds proudly. After playing all the sticks, now, she combines the direction of other fairs such as Sicur (of Security) and C&R (of Air Conditioning and Refrigeration) with the leadership of Fitur, not more important for her than any other: «I feel privileged for the fairs in which I have worked, of the relevant people that I have met and from whom I have learned». The best, without a doubt, of his profession, he says. Despite everything, he is aware that Fitur is worth his weight in gold in every way and, therefore, he has spared no effort to make his comeback a reality with some measures much more demanding than what the law establishes. “Life goes on and we have to propose a model so that the virus does not prevent us from doing the things we need to do. Tourism is an activity that, in addition to having its economic, wealth and employment significance in the world and especially in Spain, is necessary. It opens the mind, it is like an engine of peace, of understanding between peoples, it brings happiness… And our mission is to help bring travel back. I’m a fan of the subject,” he says. For work, with the excuse of the fairs, she has visited various places in the world, she says, although she always prefers to get lost in them. «I like medium-long stays, tourism slow. Go back to sites more than discover new ones. I have been to Florence many times and I love coming back. I have my sites and each time I go to see a specific thing». Although Spain… «We are not aware of what it is like. The tourist resources, the quality of the hotels, the restoration… There are not so many places with that level. Sometimes you have to go out to realize what we have here». That is why every summer he tries to escape for a few days to his beloved Ribadesella.
ADN
Born in Asturias although at the age of 11 she came to Madrid. Formed in Economic and Business CC at the Complutense University, he has also studied in Brussels Since 1988 he has worked in Ifema Madrid.
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