This is a medium-term plan which will mark the tourism policy of the Xunta for the next five years. The Galician president, Alphonse Ruedaannounced yesterday that the regional government will invest more than a billion euros over the next five years with the aim of promoting sustainable tourism that has “hospitality as a sign of identity”. But above all with a set of measures which are “closest” to the inhabitants themselves. They named it as Galicia Tourism Strategy 2030 and it was presented yesterday by the regional president during an event in the city of Ferrol.
“It is a very large project that must now be developed. And the first thing to develop it is to give it resources”, said the president of the Xunta during his speech at the event, where he assured that the billion corresponds to “a conservative calculation”, but that “git will be much longerYes» according to Rueda.
This is not an impromptu plan. La Xunta has prepared this roadmap based on a diagnostic process of the tourism situation in the autonomous community in which it participated more than a thousand professionals through several work tables. This was carried out in coordination with the Galician Tourism Cluster and with the collaboration of Galician universities. In addition to the regional leader, the Minister of the Presidency, Xustiza and Sports, Diego Calvo, and the Director of Tourism of Galicia, Xosé Merelles, also participated in the presentation of the project at the Jofre theater.
Sorting through all these contributions ended up resulting in a total of 64 measures “which aimcontinue to benefit from the tourism potential of the community in an autonomous and sustainable manner”, as the Rueda government announced in a press release. In this sense, it is a question of “developing where it is most necessary”, focusing on the coast and in the countryside, and betting on a more international and more seasonal tourism, “in which coexistence with local communities prevails”.
This is one of the fundamental objectives of the plan, not to lose sight andtake residents into accountdemonstrates, says the Xunta, that a third of the budget is allocated to sustainability “in the broadest sense”. This is of course in everything that concerns the environment, but also the social, “with the aim of generating a positive relationship between tourists and residents”.
The president of the Xunta specifically mentioned this during his speech at the event organized at the Jofre theater in Ferrol. Rueda insisted on the need to continue to claim Galicia as a welcoming land and rejected speeches that send negative messages about a sector that, he recalled, represents in the autonomous community. more than 10% of gross domestic product (GDP) and generates around 130,000 jobs.
For his part, the mayor of Ferrol, José Manuel Rey Varela, thanked that the city was chosen as the place to celebrate World Tourism Day, emphasizing that this activity is not in contradiction with an industrial city, but rather represents another “attraction” for the same. During a year in which the councilor stood out for his “significant influx of visitors” during the summer.
Eight fundamental objectives
All the measures that will be implemented over the next five years as part of this strategy will aim to achieve eight objectives, listed by the Xunta. Promote Galicia as a destination “authentic and differential» ; its overall sustainability; promotion, marketing, seasonal adjustment and internationalization of the destination; its commercial profitability and competitiveness; mobility, tourist connectivity and territorial rebalancing; destination governance; tourist information and digital transformationIhuman capital and talent retention, as detailed in the Xunta.
And the Galician Tourism Strategy 2030 includes a battery of proposals to advance towards these eight aforementioned objectives. During its presentation in Ferrol, some of these proposals were highlighted, such as the creation of a single portal for the sector that allows debureaucratize and facilitate procedures. The objective is that companies do not need to contact different services for their procedures, and thus streamline bureaucracy. With this, the Xunta seeks to encourage the creation of new businesses and new investments.
The plan also includes measures aimed at promoting the tourism sector and professions and the best way to achieve this is none other than generate “quality jobs”with the ultimate objective not only to create, but also to try to avoid talent drain. And to achieve this, for example, the Xunta will strengthen the role of the Galician Hospital Center, which will provide new courses with the aim of anticipating the needs that arise in the market.
Of course, in the 21st century, the project could not forget new technologies. Thus, in the digital domain, among other measures, the project which The “digital twin” of the Camino de Santiago is underway and this tool will continue to be applied to other unique spaces. Through this, Xunta explains, simulations and predictions can be carried out to make the most accurate decisions with more information.
Xacobéo 2027
In the action program for the next five years, the Xunta of course also does not forget Xacobeo 2027, and the regional government is already working to make it a success like the double Holy Year 2021-2022.
In short, as summarized by Rueda in Ferrol, the Galicia 2030 tourism strategy will seek to strengthen the autonomous community as a sustainable destination, so that it is an economic engine in this area which generates wealth for the entire territory. And above all “put the emphasis on people”, both visitors and residents. In short, hospitality as a hallmark of Galicia.
