Patricia Franco: "Castilla-La Mancha is committed to gastronomic tourism"
In the special programme broadcast by Atalayar from the International Tourism Trade Fair (FITUR), in collaboration with Europea Media, Aviación Digital and the International Press Club, we had the presence of Patricia Franco, Castilla-La Mancha's Regional Minister of Economy, who talked about the new challenges facing the tourism sector in Castilla-La Mancha. On the other hand, Franco pointed out how Castilla La-Mancha is digitising in a 360º way all its tourist offer and the new electronic platforms that the community puts at the service of its visitors.
The Castilla La-Mancha stand at FITUR represents a firm commitment to local tourism and gastronomy.
Indeed, the commitment we have brought to FITUR 2022 is gastronomy, the great gastronomic offer of our region. We are the largest wine-producing area, not only in Spain, but in Europe, and that is another of the messages we are sending out, our commitment to wine and food tourism, a very appropriate offer for post-COVID times.
At the opening of FITUR, the president said that a record investment was going to be made in the tourism sector.
Almost 100 million euros, as the president announced, which is three times the budget we had dedicated last year. I believe that the offer is significant and above all we are launching new projects within the framework of European funds with the Ministry of Tourism, projects that have to do with our commitment to gastronomic tourism, with the creation of a network of 1,600 kilometres for tourism by bicycle throughout the length and breadth of our region and our natural parks. On the other hand, we are working on the creation of a new digital platform that will allow us to work more efficiently with tourism in its new online version.
Part of this investment will be allocated to digitalisation. I think you have a very interesting project in terms of digitalisation-nature parks?
Indeed, we are digitising our entire tourism offer in 360º. We have presented within this new platform the experiences that can be lived, bought or given as gifts in Castilla La-Mancha. It is an experiential website (experienciascastillalamancha.es) where anyone who wants to spend two nights in a natural park, eat in a place and visit a winery can buy this experience by means of cheques that can later be redeemed. In this way we make it easier to give the experience as a gift to our loved ones.
that this pandemic has taught us to modernise and adapt to new perspectives and Castilla La-Mancha is not going to be left behind; in this sense, what are your expectations?
Our expectations for the start of the year are very positive. It is still somewhat complex as a result of this 6th wave and with the Omicron variant present, but the outlook is positive because we are already at levels of employment recovery and this is a clear indicator of the evolution of the sector. Our tourism offer has recovered by 70% in data prior to COVID-19, 20 points above the rest of national tourism and in employment we are already 2 points above the 2015-2019 average when the president took the reins of the regional government. Therefore, we are talking about optimistic prospects and the resilience of the tourism sector will make the community of Castilla-La Mancha achieve good numbers throughout this 2022.
Finally, why should we travel to Castilla La-Mancha?
Mainly because Castilla La-Mancha has it all, such a diverse inland tourism offer where experiential tourism is gaining a magnificent position. Everyone who wants to live and experience nature, gastronomy, cultural heritage and craftsmanship has to come to Castilla La-Mancha where all our people, who are the best we have, will welcome you with open arms.
