X IWRT

The tenth edition of the IWRT - International Workshops on Religious Tourism took place between 23 and 24 June 2022, in the city of Fátima and on 25 June in the city of Guarda, thus resuming the usual face-to-face editions of the event.

IWRT is an event that was born in 2012 and is organised annually by ACISO - Ourém-Fátima Business Association, in partnership with the Municipality of Ourém and the Sanctuary of Fátima, joining, since 2018, the Municipality of Guarda. The event has the collaboration and support of a wide range of entities, such as Turismo de Portugal, the Regional Tourism Authority of Centro de Portugal, the Regional Tourism Promotion Agency Centro de Portugal, TAP AIR Portugal, the Centro 2020 Regional Operational Programme, and other companies and entities that sponsor the event, without which it would not be possible to hold this event.

The main objectives of the IWRT are:

• Promote a business exchange of contacts between the various participants;
• Be an effective accelerator of post-pandemic tourism recovery;
• Promote Portugal internationally as a privileged destination for Religious Tourism;
• Reinforce the importance of Religious Tourism in the context of the world tourism sector.

The celebration of the tenth edition of the IWRT was marked in a special way with the elaboration of a magazine that contains the different perspectives of the main actors and partner entities of the event and that gathers the data of the events already held (Link HERE). In addition to the edition of the magazine, the anniversary of the event was also marked with the making of a special cloak, in burel, for an Image of Our Lady of Fatima, symbolising the international dimension of the IWRT.

The 2022 edition of the IWRT maintained the One-to-One Meetings in a tent, now with a larger size, 1250 m2, installed in Park 12 of the Sanctuary of Fátima, which allowed to guarantee more circulation spacing and to distinguish between the Exhibitors area and the meetings area, reserved for Suppliers and Hosted Buyers.

In terms of registrations, we had:

• 123 Suppliers;
• 122 Hosted Buyers;
• 41 Exhibitors

Taking into account the data presented above, it was possible to have 47 countries represented at the event, including Hosted Buyers, Suppliers and Exhibitors.

Regarding business meetings, 4420 meetings were scheduled.