Last week, the State Secretary for Tourism, Isabel Borrego, was at the 37th edition of the World Travel Market (WTM), one of the world’s main tourism trade fairs, being held in London. This year there were more than 186 exhibiting countries, more than 50,000 professionals from the tourism sector and 3,000 members of the press from around the world.
Accompanied by the UK’s Spanish Ambassador, Federico Trillo-Figueroa, and the Managing Director of Turespaña, Marta Blanco, the State Secretary for Tourism, visited the Spanish representation at the fair. At a press briefing, she underlined that the United Kingdom maintains its position as the leading emitting market to Spain and, if the current trend continues, more than 17 million British tourists will visit Spain by the end of 2016, a new all-time record.
Beforehand, Isabel Borrego attended a meeting with leading agents in the British tourism sector, to whom she outlined the economic situation and the current state of the tourism industry in Spain.
She announced the Spanish Government’s forecast for 2016 to close with an all-time record number of inbound tourists – in excess of 74 million, as well as excellent spending figures. She also said that employment in this sector is performing particularly well.
Represented on the Valencian Community Tourist Board stand were representatives from Orihuela, Torrevieja and Guardamar.
The Guardamar main products demanded by British tourists, in addition to the sun and beach, are active tourism and sports, gastronomic-oenological, birdwatching (bird watching with a potential market of 1,500,000 Britons) so that Guardamar is in A situation of privilege when meeting all these conditions with 11 kilometers of beaches, the pinewood dune, the mouth of the river Segura, epicenter of the humid areas of southern Alicante and an archeological, historical, cultural and gastronomic heritage of the highest order.
According to a spokesman, the main products demanded by British tourists in Guardamar, besides sea, sand, sun and beaches are activity holidays and sports tourism, gastronomy and wines. There is also a potential market of over 1.5 million bird watchers which the resort is keen to tap in to as well as pinewoods and dunes, the southern Alicante wetlands and archaeological, historical, cultural and gastronomic heritage of the first order.
According to the Tourism deputy, Eduardo Dolón, Orihuela and Torrevieja were working alongside the Tourist Board of the Diputación de Alicante, in promoting cruise tourism and sport, with particular emphasis put once again on golf, with five championship courses on the city doorsteps.
Sofia Alvarez, the councillor for tourism in Orihuela meanwhile said that she and the mayor, Emilio Bascuñana also focussed on history, monuments, festivals, gastronomy and our most universal poet, so that the city can continue to be a main destination chosen by the many tour operators who came together at this event.”
