Discover Basque Country
The international attractiveness of Bilbao also extends to the professional tourist sector, which is meeting today, 4th February, on a “Basque Day”, to find out about and pool experiences with technology and RDI in the tourism field. This event forms part of Enter 2016. 260 professionals from the scientific, academic and business fields, from 37 countries, are to meet at Bizkaia Aretoa, to “learn and also to present the work our cutting-edge companies are doing in tourism technology,” in the words of the Basque minister for economic development and competitiveness, Arantxa Tapia. ‘Enter 2016’, reaches its twenty-third edition in Bilbao, organised by IFITT (International Federation for Information Technology and Travel Tourism). Recent venues have included Lugano (Switzerland) and Dublin (Ireland). Last year Bilbao welcomed 813,353 visitors, 9.6% up on 2014. The Bizkaia Areota building is a landmark of urban regeneration in Bilbao, the work of the Pritzker architecture award winner Álvaro Siza.