/ Town Hall
Thursday, 5th April 2018
THE ALLIANCE OF TOURIST MUNICIPALITIES CLAIMS A SPECIFIC FINANCING SYSTEM TO START PROJECTS UP AIMED AT IMPROVING DESTINATIONS' COMPETITIVENESS
Representatives of the British Embassy and Consulates in Spain attended the meeting called yesterday by members of the AMT in Madrid.
It has been confirmed that both parties are concerned about the situation generated by Brexit, although it is expected that it will not have a significant impact on the flow of tourists.
Madrid, 5th April 2018 - The Alliance of Tourist Sun and Beach Municipalities (AMT), formed by Adeje, Arona, Benidorm, Calvià, Lloret de Mar, Salou, San Bartolomé de Tirajana and Torremolinos, presented yesterday their priority objectives as tourist pioneer destinations of Spanish territory, in a meeting attended by representatives of the Embassy and British Consulates in Spain.
The eight pioneer tourism municipalities that make up the AMT represent only 0.92% of the total Spanish population. However, these eight municipalities received 11,059,430 foreign tourists in 2017, representing 13.52% of the total received in Spain, and reaching 67,143,208 total overnight stays, representing 19.75% of the total registered in our country. With an 82.65% average occupation and 86,185 employees in the sector, the valuable contribution of these touristic municipalities to the good results registered by Spain - second in world tourism ranks - is more than evident.
The strong global competition faced by Spain, as well as the evolution in demands of new customer profiles, concern these eight pioneer tourism municipalities, committed to the digitalisation of the sector, sustainability, safety and accessibility of destinations, as differentiating elements that allow them to respond to the new market demands and maintain the leading position they hold since our country began to be relevant in the global tourism rankings.
In this sense, the AMT calls for the need for a specific financing system that results in greater financial support from the Public Administration, in order to launch these projects aimed at improving destinations' competitiveness, and therefore , the positive economic results that Spain has been registering in recent years in tourism.
The mayor of Calvià, Alfonso Rodríguez Badal, has pointed out in this regard that the pioneer tourist municipalities "need the Government of Spain to recover financing programmes for the reconversion of many tourist destinations. Tourism is a huge source of income and employment generation and, to achieve the quality that allows us leadership, we must bet on our tourism industry. The General State Budgets - he added - had to contemplate these aids that disappeared years ago».
The meeting of the AMT, held yesterday in Madrid, was also attended by Bill Murray, Head of Economics and Public Policy of the British Embassy in Madrid; Sarah Jane Morris, Consul of Madrid and Alicante; and Lloyd Milen, Consul of the Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Andorra, interested in knowing the objectives and priority actions that the AMT- whose technical secretariat manages the ITH - Instituto Tecnológico Hotelero (Hotel Technological Institute) - marks in its roadmap, as destinations with special potential of interest for the British market.
During the meeting held with this representation of the British diplomatic corps in Spain, the mayors of the municipalities that form the AMT addressed the concern that involves ignorance on the negotiations that are taking place on Brexit in tourism issues. However, both parties agreed on the positive perception of the British market on the Spanish tourist destinations, and on the good commercial relationship in tourism that exists between both countries, so this situation should not have consequences on tourists flow and the normal development of business.
