“Culture and business are not antagonistic terms. This would be a very poor and reductive vision. With this reflection, the Minister of Culture and Tourism, Gonzalo Santonja, concluded this Monday the presentation of the simultaneous celebration of the AR-PA fairs of Cultural Tourism and Intur, which will take place at the Valladolid Fair from November 14 to 17 . Just a year ago, the same advisor put forward his department’s intention to reformulate the traditional Art and Heritage biennial. Twelve months and numerous meetings later, the two parties involved – the Valladolid fair institution and the Junta – presented the union of “these two reference fairs”, with “culture as a link” and the objective to make it a “more powerful” event. and international if possible”, declared the president of the Valladolid Fair, Víctor Caramanzana.
The result of this “merger” will be visible at the exhibition center from November 14 to 17, where the two events will occupy three of the four pavilions. According to Santonja, the presence of the Board of Directors at this double event, which will require an investment of 1.2 million euros, It will take place in an institutional space which will occupy pavilion 2 of the exhibition center, where Intur will be held, and which will communicate via an immersive corridor with pavilion 4, where AR-PA cultural tourism will take place. The latter will, in turn, have three different spaces – the Heritage Island, the Culture Island and the Language Island – “the archipelago of our future”, in which educational activities will be developed, cultural and artistic.
The objective is to “show the richness and new possibilities that open up to the management and innovation of cultural heritage, the variety and attractiveness of the cultural offer as a tourist resource and the possibilities of the Spanish language as a resource to attract foreign students. Santoja said. The holding of the AR-PA Forum has also progressed in this same pavilion, with technical sessions, as well as the International Congress “Future from the Past”, which will take place in Auditorium 2 of the Fair under the scientific direction of professors Darío Álvarez . and Miguel Ángel de la Iglesia, from the Higher School of Architecture of Valladolid.
After the councilor’s intervention, Caramanzana took the floor, recalling that at the beginning of Intur, inland escapades were associated with a “very limited vision” like rural tourism, whereas today “its almost infinite proposals revolve around culture, nature and gastronomy”. This is why the Fair and the Ministry of Culture worked so that “the elements of Intur and AR-PA fit together and add up”. “This will be a historic step for a show which has 27 editions that a very important part was missing, which is culture.
Likewise, he highlighted the importance of the Intur Negocios conference, which will take place on November 14 and whose main stage will be the construction market, and explained that the great exhibition of interior proposals will take place from 15 and will allow visitors to travel to more than 1,200 destinations in eleven communities, in Portugal, France and Cuba. Caramanzana and Santonja emphasized that the merger of the two events, with a permanent vocation and whose impact will be tested once concluded, has already generated greater interest from companies and speakers.