The express journey of King Felipe the sixth: in the morning at the coronation of Charles III of England; in the afternoon in the final of the Copa del Rey of Spain.

The NATO summit in Madrid (Spain) was characterized by an important security deployment that left very interesting images about how government and institutional trips are organized in security matters.

Globalization has allowed a world with a multitude of connections, of all kinds. Among them, the international relations between countries and institutions stand out. The ease of developing and maintaining these relationships in a globalized world has led to a wide growth of them. This has in turn generated an increase in the number of travels made by representatives of governments and institutions in the exercise of their duties, within the framework of a new tourism niche: the GITT (Governmental and Institutional Travel and Tourism) sector, which implies a series of peculiarities that differentiate it from any other sector.

In the following link you will find a summary of the analysis that TOP has made on the impact that the sudden change of headquarters, from Santiago de Chile to Madrid, propitiates in the international mobilization of the Spanish capital, which faces another great challenge.

One of the most common and important forms of diplomacy, which are also of fundamental relevance, are the visits that Heads of State or other members of governments and institutions make to other countries with which they maintain diplomatic relations. However, there are several different types of visits, depending on who makes them and their purpose. For example, a state visit is not the same as a courtesy visit, just as a visit by a king as head of state is not the same as a visit by a minister.

Vatican City, officially Vatican City State, or simply the Vatican, is a landlocked Sovereign State, included within the city of Rome, in Italy, but whose political, administrative, legislative, etc., characteristics are different from those of the territory where it is located. It is the smallest Sovereign State in the world in terms of size and population, and one of the six European microstates.

In the middle of the 20th century, during the early stages of the Cold War, the tension between the Western bloc, led by the United States, and the Eastern bloc, led by the Soviet Union (USSR), triggered a series of conflicts on all continents, one of the most important being the outbreak of the Cuban Revolution (1953-1959), which ended with the victory of the communist revolutionaries, the US trade embargo on the country and the consequent rapprochement of the new Cuban government to the postulates of the USSR.

Many episodes in the history of mankind, and unfortunately, although increasingly isolated, in our present, have been marked by war. These dark events, which pit two or more factions against each other using force and weapons, paralyze almost all daily activities. However, despite the escalation of war, there is usually a continuous effort, or willingness, on the part of both sides, as well as third parties, to settle the conflict as soon as possible.

Although the travel of governments and institutions has evolved significantly in recent decades, it is true that they experienced a major boom during the so-called Cold War, which maintained a constant tension between the Western bloc, led by the United States, and the Eastern bloc, with the Soviet Union (USSR) as a reference.

On July 27, 2023, the Russia-Africa Summit, also known as the Russia-Africa Economic and Humanitarian Forum, kicked off in St. Petersburg. The summit saw the participation of 49 delegations from various countries, foreign ministers from each of these countries, 17 heads of state, and 5 African organizations. The central theme of this unprecedented summit revolved primarily around issues such as security, gas supply, and grain trade, all of which have been impacted in one way or another by the Russo-Ukrainian war.

Numerous hotels and villas in St. Petersburg had to provide substantial services to accommodate these leaders, including 17 heads of state and, notably, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his delegation, who traveled from Moscow to St. Petersburg for the summit.

This event has revitalized the hotel, hospitality, and transportation industries both in Russia and St. Petersburg. Since the beginning of the war and the diplomatic and commercial blockade with the West, the former Russian capital had seen a decline in the significant number of visitors it used to receive before the conflict. Therefore, while the Kremlin has allies in Africa, Asia, and certain parts of Latin America, the summit has also helped stimulate Government and Institutional Travel (GITT) within the Russian Federation, highlighting the high profitability generated by these trips for accommodation, transportation, gastronomy, intermediation, and translation service providers.