turismo

The Council of Pontevedra presented the advance of the Plan of Reactivation of the destiny Pontevedra Province

Security and trust, but also adaptation of marketing and promotion of the destination and collaboration and training for the sector. These are some of the keys to the progress of the Reactivation Plan of the Pontevedra province destination, promoted by the Diputación de la Pontevedra as a result of the health crisis caused by the coronavirus. In this sense, the president of the council stressed the need to make the province a safe, sustainable and inclusive destination and emphasized the first measures implemented from the provincial body: security and confidence in the network Info Rias Baixas, marketing and adaptation of the promotion of the destination, collaboration with tourist events and support and training of the sector.

All of them are structured in the five action axes of the plan, which are financing, legal aspects and taxation; prevention of safety, health and hygiene by elaborating clear protocols and health guarantee plans; digitalization and competitiveness focused on business leadership and strengthening through training, innovation and entrepreneurship; fostering the demand for tourism products and services of the province linked to local consumption and adaptation of the promotion of the Rías Baixas destination.

From the analysis of tendencies carried out through the Reactivation Plan of the Pontevedra province destination, it can be extracted since to guarantee the success it is necessary to fulfill three requirements: “the sanitary guarantee and everything what has to do with the security and hygiene and the nonmassification, the flexibility as far as the cancellations or changes of plans and the confidence that will be those that determine that the tourist people decide by a certain place”, assured Carmela Silva. In this field, the president stressed the importance of being “very alert to meet new demand and anticipate changes in supply” given that, at this time, “studies, tourism portals and experts place us as one of the most attractive destinations for this summer.

Silva announced that a contingency plan has already been approved for the offices belonging to Rías Baixas Tourism for the recruitment of staff, with a budget of 250,000 euros, to finance the hiring of 27 people for information tasks in these offices located in 21 municipalities of the province.

With regard to the marketing and adaptation of the promotion of the destination, the priority aspect is to offer activities linked to local and sustainable experiences, avoiding crowds and betting on nature and outdoor spaces, on responsible, inclusive and sustainable tourism, reinforcing the Rías Baixas brand. With regard to marketing, Carmela Silva said that this week was tendered, worth 116,000 euros for 2020 and extendable for another three years, comprehensive technical assistance for the holding of workshops and trade missions by sector in the domestic market and northern Portugal, in line with the Tourism Cluster of Galicia.

As for promotion, he recalled that campaigns are underway for local products and the start of the new local trade campaign. In this even field, is in operation to adapt the communication plan of the destination, also focused on the local market, to which 150,000 euros are allocated for the promotion of the province as a safe destination through a new campaign online and off line.

Another of the measures underway is the collaboration with tourist events, either sports, music festivals or audiovisual and related to the organization of conferences and events (MICE). “We will allocate resources both to those held this year and those who pass to 2021, to ensure that they do not miss events that have such a high capacity to attract tourists,” said the president of the Provincial Council.

Finally, among the measures already launched by the County Council of Pontevedra to reactivate tourism is the training of the sector and the need to bet on the digitalization of businesses to ensure their competitiveness. In addition, and in this aspect, the president explained that “we are going to continue with the formation online initiated in April with the establishments adhered to the SICTED, we have in march an accelerator that begins its walking from May 25 and we launched formative sessions oriented to the tourism”. He also reported that will continue the advice to SMEs and self-employed people with practical information on tax issues, employment or marketing and said that it is developing a document to facilitate and ensure transparency, viability and survival and tourism business in the province, as well as employment.

Rías Baixas Tourism Reactivation Plan (pdf)