The mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, has begun the new political course, among other things, boasting of the “extraordinary” tourism data of the community during this summer, which is growing above the Spanish average in terms of international visitors and average daily spending. The region welcomed more than a million vacationers in July alone, 743,000 foreigners (especially from the United States, Mexico, Italy and France), 11.9% more than the same month of the previous year, compared to the 7.3% growth of the national average, according to the latest data published by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
“The majority of tourism is concentrated in the capital, although many Madrilenians go to seaside destinations in the summer and hotel activity in the neighborhoods decreases. The greatest development is concentrated in the central neighborhood,” explains Juanjo Blardony, general manager of Hostelería Madrid, who believes that the August trend will also be very positive. “The good side of this growth, which began after the pandemic and is confirmed in 2023, is occurring balanced wayin line with Madrid’s capacities. We have a fairly sustainable model, which is growing not only in the number of tourists but also in quality and spending capacity,” he adds. An impression confirmed by the data: tourists who visited Madrid spent 317 euros per day last July, 13% more than the same month of the previous year and above the 5.7% increase in the national average.
In 2023, Blardony continues, Madrid has exceeded 10 million touristsand this year they intend to exceed that figure. This year alone, Madrid has welcomed more than 6.4 million tourists.
Other questions
The mayor, who started the political journey from the future cultural center that will be inaugurated in the Butarque neighborhood before the end of the year, begins the political journey focusing on challenges such as the housing problem, the plan against illegal tourism (VUT) that he plans to approve throughout this quarter and the start of “emblematic” works such as the burying of the A-5 or the northern area of Castellano.
“Throughout the city of Madrid we carry out these housing policies which will allow us, of course, thanks to the promotion of the Madrid City Council and in collaboration with the private sector, to have 15,000 additional homes once this mandate ends,” said Almeida.
Another challenge for this quarter is to definitively answer the regulation of tourist accommodation, after taking “pioneering” steps and with regulations they hope to approve initially throughout this quarter.
In terms of infrastructure, the mayor recalled that in October the underground works of the A-5 will begin at the exit of Paseo de Extremadura, while the tenders and the awarding of two emblematic works will begin, such as It is the coating of the Ventas bridge. and the northern burial of Castellana. They continue to work on the development of the boulevard project from Fuente de Cibeles to Puerta de Alcalá and added that they will continue to complain to the Spanish government. 1,000 municipal police officers “disappeared in the streets” from Madrid.
Other pending projects are birth promotion planto whom Almeida reported that “it is now closing” and hopes to be able to make its final presentation soon. “We are aware of the demographic challenge we face and that, logically, from the capital of Spain, we must also respond to it,” he explained.
Also pending is the ordinance against uncivil behavior, a rule that the security and emergency department is working on to be able to advance it. “In the next month as well, I hope we can disclose it to public information before this draft order,” he said.
In national key
The mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, assured in a national statement that “if the Catalans have the particularity that forces Pedro Sánchez to give them more money, we, the Madrilenians, will have the specialty of having to receive less money and this is deeply unfair to the city. The first mayor stressed that the Community of Madrid is “the most generous and supportive” in Spain, contributing more than 70% to the Interterritorial Solidarity Fund.
Regarding the immigration debate, Almeida said he maintains that Ayuso “wants an orderly illegal immigration linked to the world of work” and that he maintains that “she denounces illegal immigration, which is not incompatible with understanding the situation in which immigrants find themselves.”
