Valencia is the third city, after Madrid and Barcelona, and Alicante the 19th in the global relative ranking published of the 22 Spanish cities with the greatest tourist relevance, according to the Urbantur 2022 report, presented yesterday. Valencia maintains the position it occupied on the date of the previous study, in 2016, but it is the city that improves its score the most; Alicante loses a position, and is among those that worsen the most.
The study is not one more, because it is carried out by Exceltur, a non-profit association made up of 33 of the most relevant Spanish companies from the entire tourism value chain, belonging to the subsectors of transport, accommodation, travel agencies and tour operators. , means of payment, etc.; among them, Iberia, Renfe, Air Nostrum, Balearia, Viajes El Corte Inglés or American Express. And because its result is the product of the analysis of 63 indicators for which more than 100,000 data have been collected.
These indicators are divided into six sections, "pillars" in the study's terminology. In each of them, the cities receive a score that determines their position in that specific aspect. The circumstance occurs that in the aspect where Valencia obtains the best qualification in Spain, "Governance and strategic management", is where Alicante occupies the last place, 22nd; in 2016 it ranked 18th.
And this despite the fact that this section values the "political priority given to tourism", and Alicante is one of the only two cities -the other is San Sebastián- that has an exclusive council, but the rest of the issues that are taken into account they place Valencia in first place, with 130.7 points (with the average being 100) and Alicante in last, with 78.3.
By "governance and strategic management", the report understands "the existence and consistency of a strategic vision of tourism; the development and integral management of the offer by product clubs; the tourism marketing and promotion policy through new online channels". line: the efficiency and effectiveness of the tourism management system and the efficiency in the management of the carrying capacity and sustainability of the destination".
How are both cities in the rest of the sections? In "attractiveness of the offer of leisure products", Valencia is third, after Madrid and Barcelona, and Alicante is 19th, ahead of Murcia, Burgos and León.
With regard to "attractiveness of the offer of business products", Valencia is 4th (it is surpassed by Seville) and Alicante reaches 17th place because it also surpasses Santander and Santiago de Compostela.
Regarding the "competitive conditions of the urban environment and local life", Valencia falls to 11th place and Alicante remains in 17th. This section assesses aspects such as the qualification of public spaces for tourism, the quality of the urban environment , the local lifestyle, the internal reputation of the city, citizen security, the attractiveness of the lifestyle perceived by tourists and the promotion of educational excellence.
In "accessibility and mobility", Valencia is sixth, after Madrid, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Malaga and Las Palmas. And Alicante is 10th, its best relative position within the study and the same as it was in 2016. The Alicante capital is also 10th in the last section ("performance, economic and social results"), although losing one position; Valencia is 6th in this section that assesses the economic impact and profitability of the tourism model; the average stay; the social contribution of tourism and the positioning and excellence of the offer of tourist housing.
In the global ranking, there are nine cities that improve their score compared to 2016; Valencia the most, since it increases 5.3 points, up to 108.2, which gives it third place. Of the 11 that lose points, Barcelona is by far the one that does it the most (-9.8), which leads it to cede the lead in the classification of tourism competitiveness to the benefit of Madrid, despite the fact that the Spanish capital barely improvement. Later, Santander loses 2.8 and Málaga -which falls from 6th to 7th- and Alicante -which falls from 18th to 19th- lose 1.6 points compared to the report from seven years ago.
The 22 cities that the report analyzes, mentioned in order from highest to lowest "tourism competitiveness", are Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, San Sebastián, Seville, Palma de Mallorca, Malaga, Bilbao, Santiago de Compostela, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Valladolid, Gijón, Córdoba, Zaragoza, Santander, Granada, Salamanca, La Coruña, Alicante, Murcia, Burgos and León.
