The World Travel Market fair in London runs from November 10 to 13 and has Andalucia running wild through the streets and metro and airports of London. In fact, our regional government is lavishing two million euros on an advertising campaign that will greet visitors at both Heathrow and Gatwick, travel with them through the city's metro line and continue to join them as they make their way throughout the streets of the capital, even into the heart of Picadilly.
Why such an elaborate campaign this year? Nothing more and nothing less than what everyone here is calling "The Crisis". Without a doubt the UK is the biggest European supplier of visitors and foreign residents to Andalucia. The hope is that, in spite of a flagging world economy, British travellers will still choose the south of Spain when it comes time to take their holidays.
At the WTM fair itself, the regional Junta de Andalucia has hired 704 square metres for this year's exhibits. According to local press, 150 Andalucian businesses will be represented and around 100 of them are from Málaga province - testimony that the Costa del Sol is still the heavyweight of southern Spanish tourism.