A Coruña

With the aim of taking full advantage of the city’s potential through its Atlantic identity, the mayor of A Coruña, Xulio Ferreiro, accompanied by the Councilor for Employment and Social Economy, Alberto Lema, the president of Hospeco, Rafael Benito , The manager of the Tourism Consortium, Lanzada Calatayud and the director of the project, Iñaki Gaztelumendi, presented the new Strategic Tourism Plan of the city, with which they seek to value the cultural wealth, its gastronomy or its innovation capacity for “To set trends and attract talent”, as a basis for a sustainable development of the tourism sector as explained by the mayor of Corunna, the new plan connects directly with the project of commuter city, La Coruña Next in which his government is working. “We are in the moment of planning the tourism to be able to grow without this supposes a problem, but an opportunity to enrich our city economically, culturally and humanly through the visits”, he emphasized, whereas, for his part, the councilman of Employment and Social Economy, Alberto Lema stressed that this plan “is a first step to place A Coruña in the place it deserves, in the place where they are that cities with a scale and size similar to ours”, while giving Account of the methodology followed for the elaboration of this road map, through interviews, work measles and online surveys. The Strategic Tourism Plan is, therefore, a road map for the next four years (2017-2020) with the aim of placing tourism as a key axis for the sustainable development of the city, organizing and giving greater quality, variety and depth To the current tourist proposal of A Coruña, to increase the economic and social profitability of tourism, to position A Coruña as an urban destination based on the identity values ​​of the city and to move towards a new model of organization in tourism management, a model of “governance “Based on consensus.

The key is the human dimension The document places the human dimension as a key to this development, and also alludes to the identity of A Coruña, as its Atlantic character and the sea as an element that collects environmental, cultural and social, sporting and symbolic values, but also its status as Next town with an attractive and inviting lifestyle. Similarly, A Coruña’s creative capital and ability to “set trends and attract talent”, the wide and varied cultural offer, and in particular the variety and quantity of live musical offerings, its nightlife and references , Such as the new urban culture or surfing. In the same way, they highlight the potential of the gastronomic sector, “combining tradition of Galician cuisine with innovation” in a multiplicity of offerings, and also highlights the local equipment and operators, which facilitate the organization of professional and cultural events. “A Coruña is an Atlantic city, welcoming and inspiring, inclusive and upcoming, with its own lifestyle that advances trends and updates the values ​​of Galicia,” said Gaztelumendi, who emphasized the city’s ability to ” Destiny Galicia very important values, because it represents modernity, freshness … not only the classic values ​​but also renews, reinvents and put into value elements of the culture of Galicia that are trend worldwide.

As for the strategy, the director of the plan highlighted the “very high priority” of A Coruña as an urban break (‘city break’), gastronomic destination, congress travel and ‘pop culture’. The document also gives high priority to the attractiveness of culture and heritage, sports, the creative, professional or business sector. For the national PET market, among its objectives is to achieve greater diversification of supply, while For the international market, prioritizes the countries of origin of Western Europe, such as Portugal, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy or Holland.

Future Challenges The plan finally establishes a series of challenges and work programs for the next four years and also develop in the longer term, such as competitiveness actions aimed at improving tourism and product competitiveness, as well as proposing a new Tourism marketing, “at the level expected by the consumers to whom they are going”, and, in the same way, proposes a new model of governance and organization of tourism in which cooperation with other entities will be key. The Plan also bets on the creation of a tourism advisory council, “to promote a permanent dialogue between the actors and the City Council, so that the future of tourism in A Coruña can be built in common”, and proposes to move forward, using the technical document As a basis, in a dialogue with the economic sectors and also with the citizens for the constitution of a Local Pact on Tourism, which serves to define the involvement of each party in the future of the city.

The executive summary of the plan is available for consultation at the following link: http://turismocoruna.com/media/documentos/TurismoCoruna_PET17cast.pdf