MADRID (IRNA) -- Spain's International Tourism Exhibition dubbed FITUR (Feria Internacional de Turismo) 2007 opened here on Wednesday with the presence of 170 countries, including Iran.

Spanish King Juan Carlos, secretary general of World Tourism Organization (WTO) as well as officials and ambassadors of participating countries including Iran's Ambassador to Spain Davud Salehi took part in the inaugural ceremony of the exhibition.

FITUR is considered the second leading international tourism fair in terms and the number of participants after Germany's. Some 13,190 companies are attending the five-day event to exchange views on introducing tourism attractions and potentials.

According to the organizers of the exhibition, the number of foreign participants in the 27th annual fair has increased by 43 percent. Countries such as Azerbaijan Republic, Nigeria, Armenia and Zimbabwe are officially present in the event for the first time.

Iran is displaying handicrafts, art works, carpet and tourism attractions, but it had weak presence in the exhibition in the last two years.

Despite the fact that one third of Iranian companies were not able to participate in the event on time, the fair was opened officially in Madrid on Wednesday.

Problems in issuing visas for Iranians and delay in some flights were among the causes of absence of Iran's companies in the exhibition.

According to the organizers, Iran, Yemen, Qatar, Mauritania, Vietnam, China, Nepal, Korea, Lithuania and Estonia have expanded their presence in the event.

Most of the participants are Europe followed by America, Asia and Pacific, Middle East, Africa, and international hotels which occupied 30, 20, 17, 12, 10 and 10 percent respectively of the total area of 89,000 square meters.