On the night of August 13, lightning struck in the Vall d'Ebo, in the Marina Alta region. Six days later, the misfortune could be quantified at more than 11.000 hectares burned.. Following this catastrophe, in October 2022, the regional secretary for Tourism, Francesc Colomer, announced that the 2023 budget would include the launch of a Tourism Revitalisation and Governance Plan in which different actions would be planned to recover the territory in the area and boost tourism in the affected municipalities. He stressed that these were action plans with a validity of three years, and that the largest contribution to this Plan would be from the Generalitat.
In November 2022, General Manager Herick Campos explained that they would launch three different plans through which an investment of 900.000 euros would be received. In 2023, a total of 270.000 euros would be invested. Thus, 500.000 euros would be allocated to the Mancomunidad de Servicios Sociales y Turismo de Pego, L'Atzúbia y Les Valls (160.000 euros in 2023); a total of 210.000 euros were expected to be allocated to the Mancomunidad Cultural Marina Alta over the next three years (50.000 in 2023), and 190.000 euros would be allocated to the Mancomunidad del Xapolar (60.000 budgeted in 2023).
The aid approved by the Consell de la Generalitat for the fires included a figure of 4,3 million euros. Of the total amount, which was to be covered by the Generalitat's Contingency Fund, 866.431 euros were allocated to the victims in the Vall d'Ebo and neighbouring areas, and to help boost tourism in the municipalities affected by the fire in Bejís and Vall d'Ebo, they amounted to 1,8 million euros.
In November 2023, Turismo CV asked the municipalities for a proposal for tourism actions to be carried out in the 2024 Plan, but without official notice or explanation, they eliminated the continuation of this aid from the Generalitat budget.
"These grants are very important for being able to recover from that terrible fire and its consequences, especially for the small municipalities of the Association that live at risk of depopulation. It is very important to maintain this type of aid, since without it they do not have the resources to carry out tourism projects," stresses the mayor of Pego and president of the Association of Pego and Les Valls, Enrique Moll.
"We would like, at least, to know why this aid has been withdrawn and whether an alternative has been taken to support us," Moll concludes.
