The Andalusia Masters next year is included in the budgets of the Ministry of Tourism, Trade and Sport for the year 2012, where the enhancement of the promotion and marketing of Andalusia destination, boosting commercial SMEs and support for grassroots sport will be the main budgetary axes. This has been highlighted in Parliament Luciano Alonso counselor, who explained that the amount of his department will amount to 245.1 million euros, of which almost 60% will be allocated to investment.Alonso has pointed out that it will continue to support the celebration of major events such as the Andalusia Masters, the Spanish Motorcycle Grand Prix in Jerez or the Extreme Sailing Series sailing in Almeria; a specific program of eleven events will be financed on the occasion of the Bicentennial of the Constitution of Cadiz and Sierra Nevada will be promoted as a venue for national and international competitions.
During his appearance, Alonso indicated that the accounts of his department “have been prepared with the utmost austerity and rationalization” and added that “strategic projects and all the actions that are in execution will be prioritized”. In addition, he specified that the total resources will be completed with the funds of the public company Cetursa and the Funds for the Modernization of Tourist Infrastructures (Fomit).
As regards the chapter on Tourism, highlights the commitment to the promotion of the destination, whose item “remains intact” with respect to previous budgets and reaches, after adding the allocations of quality and innovation, 94 million euros. In this sense, he explained that the 2012 Action Plan, which is part of the II Tourism Marketing Plan, will continue to aim to “attract more travelers with greater spending power and better distributed in time and territory”.
To this end, the focus will be on “segmented, direct-to-consumer and professionalized actions with an eminent marketing purpose” and, on the other hand, on the promotion of innovation as “the best promotional and loyalty tool for our destination”, according to Alonso.
In this regard, he added that a significant commitment will be made to the Andalucía Lab innovation center, which he referred to as “the largest tourism knowledge laboratory in the country” and which is expected to be fully operational next year with the launch of a fourth department dedicated to the transfer of products and technological solutions to the business sector.
He also stressed the support of the Ministry to the Tourist Community of Andalusia, a technology platform aimed at strengthening the promotion and marketing of the destination and that to date brings together 11,843 resources in the region. Together with all these initiatives, the measures included in the II Quality Plan will be promoted.
For its part, tourism planning will have a budget of 52.2 million euros. Luciano Alonso reminded that this investment will be destined to the creation of “new, more competitive and sustainable products” through the 80 programs of different nature that are currently in execution, which directly benefit almost 560 municipalities and 80% of the population.
As main projects in this field, the Sustainable Tourism Strategy stands out, which foresees an investment of 12.5 million; the actions of Tourist Municipality and six Plans of Great Cities, which will add up to 7.3 million. Other emblematic initiatives will be the Qualifica Plan and the Guadalquivir project. Also within this chapter, incentives totaling 10.8 million euros will be made available to the sector with the aim of promoting services and creating new products.
Boost to commercial SMEs
In commercial matters, management and promotion policies will have an investment of 20.3 million euros next year. Among the measures to be implemented, through the IV Comprehensive Trade Plan 2011-2013, the counselor set as priorities the support to SMEs in the sector and the promotion of activity in urban areas with the creation and consolidation of Open Shopping Centers.
Among the initiatives aimed at improving the competitiveness of companies, Alonso highlighted the implementation of a reimbursable aid fund, which will amount to 10 million euros; and the development of the Platform of Technological Solutions for Andalusian Trade, which will consist of a central purchasing and services, a loyalty system, virtual shop windows and a multimedia channel.
Likewise, other relevant items will be allocated to the construction and expansion of congress venues, such as the one in Cordoba, which will have a multi-year regional contribution of 18 million, Velez-Malaga, Cartaya, Aracena and Baeza; and the execution of the new Plan for the Promotion of Crafts, with special emphasis on the recognition of trades through the declaration of Zones and Points of Craft Interest.
Planning and promotion of sports
Finally, sports promotion and planning policies will be allocated 55.7 million euros. Within this section, the Minister pointed out as objectives the construction of public facilities to increase the practice of physical activity among the population, the promotion of grassroots sports, the consolidation of high competition and the celebration of major events with tourist repercussions.
Among the infrastructures to be undertaken next year, he stressed the importance of projects such as the Public Golf School in El Toyo (Almeria), the modernization of the Specialized Sports Center in Carranque (Malaga) and the Sports City in Huelva, and the remodeling of the Youth Stadium in Granada.
According to Alonso, one of the main commitments of his department will be the support programs for performance athletes to combine studies with training, with scholarships that will reach 546,000 euros; the Elite Star Program, for sponsoring clubs with 2.1 million; the Federated Sports Plan (5.1 million); and the promotion of school sports in regional and national competitions.
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