Wednesday 17th January 2018
Calvià attends the FITUR International Tourist Fair in Madrid with the actions that are being carried out and those that are planned, to regain the tourist leadership as a pioneer destination in the reconversion and in its commitment to innovation. The Mayor transferred in the interviews and meetings held at FITUR the actions that are already taking place and the projects planned to improve the first and, above all, the second line of a mature destination such as Calvià. Also, and within the framework of the smart project of the municipality of Calvià, Alfonso Rodríguez Badal announced the implementation of the VISITCALVIA application that will involve all the tourist actors of the municipality making real the 'Calvià in your hand' concept, and that is much more than providing exclusive customer service. The platform will allow to collect the consumption and use data of its visitors, thus helping in the decision-making in order to improve the destination.
During the Balearic Islands delegation's official visit to the stand, Rodríguez Badal greeted the vice president and regional minister for Turisme, Bel Busquets, with whom he will soon hold a meeting to take up the issues raised by the municipality, such as the need to regulate the All-Inclusive, besides dealing with other aspects of interest for the municipality.
The Calvià delegation, headed by the Mayor, and composed of the deputy mayor for Tourism, Antonio García Moles, and the general director of Tourism, Joan Mesquida, has held various meetings, including the meeting with the director of the Spanish Office of Tourism in Frankfurt, Julio López Astor, who has transferred the forecasts for 2018 regarding German tourism. These forecasts point to a decline in bookings in the low-price segment, but a maintenance -even increase- in the medium-high segment. He also reported on the promotion bet that is made more focused on the low-middle season, in the same line that carries out Calvià.
Meeting of Mayors of the Alliance of 8 Sun and Beach Tourist Municipalities
The Calvià delegation started its activity at FITUR yesterday, with the working meeting held by the Alliance of Sun and Beach Tourist Municipalities, which was established in March 2017, and which includes 8 municipalities, including Calvià, which they add about 50 million overnight stays per year and represent more than 10% of the movement of national and international tourists. In the meeting, it was agreed the prioritisation of the objectives, amongst others, the promotion of renovation plans and to progress as intelligent tourist destinations, in this sense it was informed of the calls that both the Government of Spain and the European administrations put within reach of the municipalities. Another of the issues addressed was the sharing of the tools available to municipalities to address the non-regulated accommodation offer.
The meeting was attended by the mayors Alfonso Rodríguez Badal of Calvià, Pere Granados, of Salou (Tarragona-Costa Dorada); Antonio Pérez Pérez, of Benidorm (Alicante-Costa Blanca); Marco Aurelio Pérez, of San Bartolomé de Tirajana (Gran Canarias); Jaume Dulsat i Rodríguez, of Lloret de Mar (Gerona-Costa Brava); José Ortiz, of Torremolinos (Costa del Sol); José Miguel Rodríguez, of Adeje, and José Julián Mena, of Arona -these last two from Tenerife-.
This afternoon, the Mayor of Calvià and the other mayors participated in the ITH Smart Destination Awards prize-giving event, in which the Alliance of 8 Sun and Beach Tourist Municipalities participates. Alfonso Rodríguez Badal, together with the mayor of Arona, José Julián Mena, presented the prize in the category of Interaction between tourists and citizens, which went to Play and Go Experience, a tool that improves the visitor's experience through a game that, in addition, allows to obtain geolocated information of the user. The other winners were GarageScanner in the sustainability category, Mabrian Technologies in promotion and marketing, the Junta de Andalucía in governance and public management, and Red Estable Red Española de Turismo Accesible (Stable Network Spanish Network of Accessible Tourism) in the category of accessibility. An event attended by the 8 Mayors of the Alliance, the president of Segittur and the director of IFEMA, as well as the president of ITH-CEHAT, Juan Molas.
Tomorrow, at 10 a.m., the Mayor will participate in a round table organised by the Alliance, under the title the differentiation as a formula for the repositioning of the pioneers, which will take place in the FiturtechY forum (Hall 10, stand 10A5).