In an effort to solidify the North American market as Madrid’s main source of international tourism, the Madrid City Council’s Tourism Department executed a roadshow in the United States, visiting Chicago and New York City from September 12 to September 14. This effort featured an extensive agenda of events and strategic meetings, most of which involved the presence of the Mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, who traveled to New York City to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the twinning of the two cities, a formal and substantive collaboration between the cities.
The roadshow kicked off on September 12 with a networking event in Chicago for travel agents, tour operators, and travel writers to engage with 20 Spanish companies specializing in the premium tourism and MICE segments. These efforts were reinforced on September 14 in New York City, where the Mayor of Madrid addressed over 100 North American companies to showcase all the attractions that make Madrid one of the leading tourist destinations in the world.
The city’s action-packed agenda continued the following day as Mayor Martínez-Almeida held a meeting with representatives of Virtuoso—a prestigious North American consortium of high-impact tourism travel agents from various companies—with the purpose of positioning Madrid in the international premium market and promoting the destination’s candidacy to host Virtuoso’s annual symposium in 2024. Later that day he met with representatives of The Broadway League, which consists of over 700 members from the commercial theater industry to establish channels for unity and collaboration with the theaters of the Gran Vía, recognized as the “Broadway of Madrid” and as one of the destination’s greatest cultural offerings.
To culminate actions for the cultural promotion of Madrid on Thursday night, the Royal Theatre—sponsored and promoted by the Madrid City Council’s Tourism Department—hosted a grand concert, filling Carnegie Hall with Spanish music.
The Councilwoman for Tourism for the City of Madrid, Almudena Maíllo, also traveled to New York City to host a meeting with the heads of NYC & Company—the city’s official marketing, tourism, and partnership organization—to discuss a collaboration agreement between the two destinations. Since 2007, Madrid and New York City have developed various joint promotional activities to give visibility to both cities in their respective markets and are expecting to continue the alliance and launch new initiatives tailored to the current trends in the tourism sector.
360º Promotional Campaign
Additionally, the Madrid City Council is developing a social media marketing campaign with American Airlines to promote visits to the city, as well as a media advertising campaign accompanied by a circuit of over 100 digital MUPIs featuring images of the Spanish capital in the most centric streets of New York City.
The American Market
The United States is Madrid’s largest foreign visitor market and ranks first among the top ten most important markets for the capital. In 2019, the city welcomed 809,490 Americans who generated 1,877,376 overnight stays. Throughout 2022, the number of visitors has reached 411,459 visitors, surpassing the 189,335 visitors from France, 172,371 visitors from Italy and 144,107 visitors from the United Kingdom.