CiF president Jaume Ferrer has met today with Japan's consul general in the Balearics, Catalunya and València, Hiroyuki Makiuchi. Ferrer welcomed the visit, which provided an opportunity for the two men to discuss “Formentera's prospects as a travel destination for the Japanese”. The president referred to “steps we can be taking to open Formentera's doors to Japanese visitors”, particularly, he said, during the island's traditional low season.

For his part, Makiuchi described Formentera as “the ideal island destination for senior Japanese tourists”, who he said would be receptive to proposals of active tourism like walking and cycling. According to Makiuchi, one in four Japanese is elderly and has got the time, money and get-up-and-go to visit “exotic” destinations like Formentera. Eager to make headway on the issue, President Ferrer and Consul Makiuchi said future meetings —as well as organised outings with travel agencies— would soon follow.

The Formentera Council, by way of the administration’s department of trade and the local tourism advisory board, has announced plans to use the employment website turijobs.com to select 130 qualified professionals to fill positions this summer in different tourism sector companies on the island. “The idea is to propose qualified workers to the tourism sector,” explained director of the board Carlos Bernús, “and in so doing improve the quality of tourist services here on the island”.

The selection process began one week ago and, according to Xavier Martín, head of the Turijobs portal, more than 4,000 candidates have already expressed interest. Martín says the process will create “a reserve of tourism professionals” in order to meet the need for quality personnel this summer.

Interested applicants have until 31 March to send their CVs to the site –www.turijobs.com/minisites/formentera. CiF councillor of tourism Alejandra Ferrer reported that the most qualified applicants will be asked to participate in face-to-face staff selection events held between 4 and 7 April in Madrid, Sevilla, Bilbao and Barcelona. Ferrer noted, “interviews in Formentera will also be organised if the need for local staff arises”.

In the end, business owners themselves will decide who they hire, with the Council offering support for video conferences or other technical needs. The Eivissa-Formentera chamber of commerce has also offered its support for the initiative. In the words of Bernús, “this is a project we are spearheading at the European level”. He added that “it will set us apart in terms of quality tourism”.

This morning, head of local tourism advisory board Carlos Bernús accompanied a group of Chinese journalists on a jaunt up to the island's quintessential lookout spot, el Mirador de la Mola. After taking in the views, Bernús and the team -composed mainly of writers for travel magazines- capped their tour of la Mola with stops at the Majoral workshop and Terramoll's wine cellar. Their itinerary yesterday had the group ambling through the Ses Salines national park and, as the day wound down, taking in a sunset at the Es Cap de Barbaria lighthouse. On the heels of the tour, Fang Fang, head of the Spanish tourism office in Peking and organiser of the adventure, reported that “the journalists were blown away by the sights here on the island”.

The goal, explains Bernús, is for the journalists to get to know Formentera so they can spread the word once back home. “This trip was organised to get the Chinese media talking about the island,” he said, adding that most of the visitors write for niche travel magazines like National Geographic Traveler China. “The kind of tourist we're targeting is one with high purchasing power, whose tour of Spain will include shopping on the mainland and time to wind down afterward,” said Bernús, who pointed out that Formentera fits in perfectly as a relaxing, natural setting to crown a journey.

Last year, Formentera reps promoted the island at Shanghai's tourism trade fair — a trip Bernús indicated has already begun to pay off “with visits like this one”. The Formentera Council picked up the eight-person troupe's travel fare from Eivissa as well as their accomodation and expenses. In the words of Bernús, Asian markets could be a fantastic way to ensure off-season visitors to the island.

Today through Sunday, March 13th, Formentera will be showing visitors of ITB Berlin everything it's got in terms of sporting events and cycling trails. The aim is to “attract more German visitors to the island in the low season”, explained tourism councillor Alejandra Ferrer at the Balearic community's official presentation at the trade show, an event also attended by CiF president Jaume Ferrer. Over the coming days, the Balearics will be billed as the ideal destination spot for sports and green tourism.

At the trade fair, Formentera will be positioned as a destination to visit in the off-season. In that respect, the councillor pointed to two campaigns – Discover Formentera in May and Discover Formentera in October – as “clear examples of the perks that our pre- and post-season visitors can look forward to”. Plus, “German tourists are used to chillier climates, and are usually quite pleased with the island at these times of year”, Ferrer said. She also pointed out that “Germans are typically very respectful of the environment, which, given the importance we place on sustainability, is exactly the kind of visitor we want to appeal to”.

Travelling to Formentera, virtually

Formentera's reps will use the ITB to offer a virtual visit of Formentera's Ses Salines park with the help of virtual reality goggles and a (stationary) bike. Councillor Ferrer described it as “a way to show people the main attractions on the island”. Moreover, in a bid to increase footfall at the archipelago's shared stand, Formentera, with a space slightly removed from its neighbours, hopes to offer personalised attention and hand out information about propositions for nature lovers. There is also a dedicated sports area within the stand where potential visitors can find out about the more than 20 off-season sporting events scheduled for 2016. Those events, together with a packed cultural calendar, bring the total number of events on the island to over 60.