The first webinar by the Spain tourism board was concluded successfully with participants from all over the United Arab Emirates and GCC. Daniel Rosado Bayon – Director of the Spanish Tourism Office in Abu Dhabi conducted the session with a general update about the country, connectivity, weather etc. He stated that last year Spain received more than 83 million visitors. Then a poll was held on the right side of the screen for the visitors to interact; the first poll was "what are the barriers for coming to Spain?" there were four criteria given first was connectivity, lack of knowledge of the destination, lack of cultural ties and last one visa issues so in this, about 46% stated visa issues and 36% lack of knowledge about the destination. So this webinar focused on the second aspect and provided the knowledge necessary. These polls are important as the tourism board will receive some main areas of concern which will help them to develop further products according to the requests of the clients. There were several videos shown throughout the webinar, which actually gave an opportunity for the visitors to take a closer look of the destination and its offerings. In this session, Madrid and Barcelona were the key areas in focus. It was a very comprehensive presentation by Rosado about the many activities that can be done, the historical, cultural and entertainment options for families, leisure traveling individuals, honeymooners, youth, adventure and MICE visitors etc. He portrayed the many interesting art walks, 15 UNESCO world heritage sites preserved to this day in Spain. The country offers a lot more in terms of adventure with the mountains promising a world of adventure, rush of adrenaline by participating in various adventure sports, star gazing and many others to be experienced. He further stated that the GCC's Retail therapy is well understood with very unique shopping experiences that will make the visitors spend more time to explore the various different areas for shopping. Agents that attended the webinar participated were very happy with the polls that gave them an opportunity to voice out their concerns and at the end of the session the questions were answered by Rosado and he further stated that the next two sessions to be held on 10th June and 17th June 2020 will have a lot more knowledge to pass on. He further explained that by July there may be a possibility of more airports opening and travel beginning to revive. — SG
