Clúster

The projects with which the Xunta chooses to raise 28 million euros of community funds were presented at the event.

Fisterra was the locality chosen this Monday by the Xunta to celebrate the World Tourism Day and to present the programme of actions with which it aspires to put in value the autonomic tourist model and to capture European funds for a total amount of 28 million euros. The event held in the emblematic lighthouse of this town on the Costa da Morte was chaired by the first vice-president of the Xunta and Regional Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Tourism, Alfonso Rueda, and was attended by the director of Galician Tourism, Nava Castro; the mayor of Fisterra, José Marcote, and the president of the Galician Tourism Cluster, Cesáreo Pardal.

Rueda detailed that there are six proposals for action that the Xunta will present to the extraordinary European funds of the Territorial Plan of Tourist Sustainability in Destinations and to the National Plan Xacobeo 21-22. Under the first of these plans, the regional government intends to carry out actions to rehabilitate the coastline (worth almost 8 million euros), to improve the coastal path (3.5 million) and to implement nautical infrastructures and actions to promote Galicia as a nautical destination (3 million). With regard to the National Plan Xacobeo 21-22, the Xunta aims to allocate 3.5 million euros to turn Galicia into a cycle tourism destination through the Jacobean routes and the Eurovelo network, to revalue the fluvial maritime route of the Arousa Sea through an investment of 3.2 million euros, and to value the Way of St James as a safe, innovative and suitable experience also for families, allocating 6.5 million euros for this purpose.

The event held in Fisterra also served to highlight the good figures recorded by the Galician tourism sector during the month of August, since it was the only Spanish autonomous community that exceeded the pre-pandemic records. Thus, the data of Galicia last August compared to the same month of 2019 exceeded the national average by 27 points. In this regard, Cesáreo Pardal pointed out that these good data “are not the result of any circumstance, but of work” and advocated continuing along the path of public-private collaboration on which the Cluster has been working in consensus with the different administrations for almost 10 years. The president of the Cluster also stressed the need to continue improving sustainability and training in the sector in order to continue on the upward path and make 2022 a historic year in terms of tourism activity.

Along the same lines, Alfonso Rueda pointed out that safety, quality and sustainability are the cornerstones of the 2021-2023 Galicia Safe Destination Master Plan, drawn up by the Galicia Tourism Agency with the collaboration of the Galicia Tourism Cluster, and with which the community aspires to reach 5 million visitors by 2023.