Turisme Comunitat Valenciana has notified 16 local or supra-municipal destinations in the Valencian Community that they have passed the first evaluation phase corresponding to the extraordinary call 2022 of the Tourism Sustainability Plans in Destinations Program. This year, from the Marina Alta region, El Poble Nou de Benitatxell may be added to the plan.
This program is financed from the Next Generation EU funds and Turisme acts, together with the Secretary of State for Tourism, as an entity that evaluates the proposals received and compliance with the requirements imposed by the applicable community and national regulations.
The call to access the PTSTD 2022 is based on a competitive concurrence process in which the applications submitted go through a technical evaluation process, being necessary that the submitted proposal reaches at least 70 points out of 100 to be considered suitable and therefore be eligible for EU funding.
In this way, once the first pre-selection phase has been completed, 16 destinations in the Valencian Community have passed it and received their Tourism Sustainability Plans in Destinations with the qualification of suitable based on compliance with different requirements related to the tourist trajectory of the destination and the investments proposed in the areas of ecological transition, energy efficiency and digital transformation, and competitiveness.
The final approval of the Territorial Tourism Sustainability Plans in the Valencian Community Destination for 2022 and the budget distribution by autonomous community will take place at the Tourism Sector Conference scheduled for next November.
16 of 52 municipalities pass the first phase
The regional secretary of Tourism, Francesc Colomer, has highlighted the "high participation" of the municipalities and associations of the Valencian Community in this second call. “We have received a total of 52 applications, of which 16 have finally passed the score cut-off above 70 points that is marked in the strategy”.
Specifically, the Destination Tourism Sustainability Plans that have obtained a score greater than or equal to 70 points are those corresponding to Elche, Benidorm, Riba-roja de Túria, Alicante, Guardamar del Segura, Alfàs del Pi, Oliva, Benitachell, Villajoyosa , Castelló de la Plana, Morella, Cofrentes, Santa Pola, El Campello, and Gandia and the Association of Municipalities of the Vall d'Albaida.
To the Tourism Sustainability Plans in Destinations declared suitable, we must add the three Destination Cohesion Actions (ACD) promoted by the Generalitat, through Turisme CV, which will be carried out by the three Provincial Councils.
Actions to establish synergies between spaces
These three ACDs have in common the implementation of actions aimed at establishing synergies between coastal, urban and inland tourist spaces that contribute to generating tourist flows from the most visited places to those others in the tourist revitalization phase.
The head of Turisme has also stressed the territorial representativeness of the proposals received, which "are a reflection of the importance of the tourism sector in each of the three provinces". Of the 52 proposals submitted, 21 correspond to the province of Alicante, 18 to Valencia and 13 to Castellón. Likewise, the 3 ACDs correspond to proposals presented by the three Provincial Councils of the Community.
Francesc Colomer wanted to emphasize that these plans "are part of our tourism strategy", and in this sense, he explained that the "final project is prepared by Turisme", which is in charge of choosing the destinations for the Sustainability Plans Extraordinary tourism and the ACD”.
It should be noted that Turisme Comunitat Valenciana has notified both the 16 destinations that have passed the first phase of this call, as well as those that have been unsuitable. In this case, these destinations have been encouraged to present themselves in the next call and have been offered technical advice with the aim of facilitating their incorporation in future calls.
There are currently 11 Territorial Plans for Tourism Sustainability in the Valencian Community Destination underway in the Community corresponding to the 2021 call. These are ten local entities and one community, which are Alcalà de Xivert, Alcoy, Benissa, Dénia, Finestrat, Oropesa del Mar, Torrevieja, València, Cullera, Bocairent, and the Commonwealth of the Interior Tierra del Vino.
To this, we must add the ACD in development by Turisme CV with an estimated investment of around 16 million euros and whose actions include, among others, the development of the Tourism Intelligence System of the Valencian Community or the intelligent signage of experiential product routes.
