10th May 2012 
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Japanese, Romanian or Norwegian are some of the languages that can already be heard around the Fuengirola fair ground. The delegations from over 30 different countries and regions all over the world are finishing off their preparations for the so called ‘Feria Internacional de los Pueblos’ (FIP) in Fuengirola that this year celebrates its eighteenth birthday and aspires to reedit its usual amount of a million visits during the bank holiday of the 1st of May.
The people in charge of these huts took a break from the preparations to attend to the traditional official presentation in the town hall’s royal hall with the mayor, Esperanza Oña, and the tourism councillor, Ignacio Souviron. In this meeting, the town hall takes the opportunity to give out best wishes to all the participants and welcome the new coming countries as well as those who return after a few years of absence. In the 2012 edition the new comers are Australia, Romania, Italy, France and Finland.
These will be accompanied by the returners such as Andalusia, Germany, Argentina, Asturias, Brazil, Bolivia, Cadiz, Colombia, Cuba, USA, Egypt, Extremadura, Galicia, Greece, Hawaii, India, Ireland, Japan, Morocco, Mexico, Norway, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic , Uruguay and Venezuela. A cocktail of different tastes, music and rhythms, all together in a large area that the Fuengirola town hall assure it’s a magical journey around the world.
“It’s a fair that is organised to transmit positive images of our municipality, of the coexistence between the different countries and so that everyone participating has a great time. It’s marvellous to be able to enjoy so many different countries, so far away on the map and so different in their cultures, concentrated in one area”, explained the mayor, who, at the same time, expressed her pride in this city by adding “we are a hospitable municipality and here we can demonstrate how the difference of cultures doesn’t have to divide or cause any rifts, in fact quite the contrary because we are all culturally richer. We can boast of our customs, folklore, gastronomy without taking anything away from the rest”.
In this occasion, the four days of this fair will commence on Saturday and will be going till the 1st of May to make the most of the bank holiday and long weekend. In the FIP, as usual, the access to the huts is free. The delegations will remain open uninterruptedly from 1pm right through till four in the morning and will have to offer a program of folkloric and cultural shows, as well as offering gastronomic and folkloric samples of each country and region.
The passacaglia, that will take place on Sunday at midday through the city’s streets, will be offering a great opportunity to see all the groups in action, according to tourism councillor, who took the opportunity to present the trade fair organised at the fair ground. The town hall also thanked the support and collaboration of Malaga’s Provincial Deputy, Andalusian Tourism and the beer company San Miguel.
