FIT 2009

For the third year in a row, I attended the Feria Internacional de Turismo (FIT) held at La Rural in Palermo. Unlike past years, when I went simply to just pick up free travel literature and see the different shows put on by the different countries, this year I had a motive - get as much information about Bolivia as I can, since I leave for La Paz and Puno, Peru next Saturday.

FIT attracts over 80,000 travel agents and industry professionals and has more than 1,500 exhibitors spread out over 42,800 meters of space. More than 5o countries, including the USA (co-sponsored by Avis), were in attendance with representatives on hand to "sell" their respective countries to travel professionals.

I spent a good three hours wandering around and collecting tons of useful information on hotels, venues, spas and restaurants in destinations throughout South America. One of the biggest sponsors of this year's FIT was the country of South Africa, which will be hosting next year's World Cup. As an added bonus, I got my picture taken with Che Guevara, who returned from the dead to attend this event in his old hometown of Buenos Aires.