The Valencian tourism sector as a whole is attending the Madrid international tourism fair, Fitur, today to promote the region ahead of a 2024 that shows signs of being even better than the recently dismissed 2023. The Valencian Community surpassed its own record in November of international tourism, 9.7 million foreign visitors, and the Valencian Government reminds us that the figures for December have yet to be known.
They will be announced this afternoon, when the global results of last year and the forecasts for the current year are scheduled to be presented, but the Minister of Innovation, Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Nuria Montes, already advanced in the presentation a few years ago days that “advance data tells us that it is going to be the most important year in terms of tourism.”
Today, its headlines will discuss the “good perspectives” with which the Consell is working with companies such as Vueling, Booking, Jet2
A meeting with the Royal Spanish Golf Federation is also expected today, not at all coincidental after Montes' participation a few months ago in the Extraordinary General Assembly of the Association of Golf Courses of Costa Blanca and Comunitat Valenciana, where he opted for tourist deseasonalization, and highlighted that this sport generates 500,000 overnight stays per year in Valencian hotels and an annual economic impact of 745 million euros, in addition to 9,000 jobs per year.
Sport has a more relevant role this year in the Valencian tourism strategy, since the Valencian Community participates in Fitur Sports to work on tourist attraction beyond the high season. The objective is to host the celebration of more sporting events, seeing the success of events such as the Valencia Marathon and Half Marathon, which just yesterday announced that they are already close to full capacity for their 2024 editions with 58% of foreign runners of 111 different nationalities.
In addition to the agenda of the Consell, which today will be represented by President Carlos Mazón, Vice President Vicente Barrera and Councilor Montes, the representatives of the Valencian municipalities are organizing dozens of meetings and meetings this week, as well as small presentations in which they will give know your product. For example, the Alicante Provincial Council breaks its record this year by taking 33 municipalities to the contest and plans activities organized by 60 municipalities.
This will translate into a high political representation, of both colors, which will not avoid tensions, such as those generated yesterday after the statements of the PSPV about this edition. The spokesperson for Tourism in Les Corts, Mario Villar, yesterday disgraced the head of the Consell who went for the first time as head of the Generalitat Valenciana to Fitur "with budget cuts", "without having done his homework" and "without offering nothing new".
The statements of Villar, who until June was director of Tourism Intelligence of the Valencian Government, fell like a bucket of cold water on the PP within hours of the inauguration. The general secretary, Juanfran Pérez Llorca, described them as “regrettable and absolute disloyalty” and added that “we have always respected the tourism initiative proposed by the Generalitat Valenciana when we were in opposition.”
