“HOSTING THE SOLHEIM CUP IS OUR MOST AMBITIOUS CHALLENGE”.
With a great knowledge of the tourism sector due to his extensive political experience in the Andalusian Administration, Luciano Alonso returns to assume the Ministry of Tourism and Trade, and he does so with a new emphasis on the importance of the golf segment within the wide range of tourism resources of the autonomous community.
One of the big bets made by the Ministry of Tourism for 2015 is the strengthening of Andalusia as a golf destination. What objectives have been set in this regard?
-Golf is a first order resource in the Andalusian tourist map. More than four hundred and fifty thousand tourists visit us every year to practice this sport. Our region is a leader in supply, with about 22 percent of the total number of Spanish courses and the highest concentration in continental Europe. We also know that golf tourism provides a longer than average stay, higher spending at the destination, helps to curb seasonality and diversifies our offer. With these credentials we cannot speak of just another activity. Its promotion has become a priority objective for Andalusia and we have included it in the current Strategic Plan for the Promotion of Golf Tourism 2015-2016, which includes more than a hundred actions for this segment, in twenty countries, in order to boost its competitiveness and position Andalusia as one of the most diversified and consolidated golf destinations in Europe.
-Recently a working meeting was held on the Costa del Sol with more than fifty golf tour operators from seventeen countries, in an action promoted by Turismo Andaluz and coordinated by IAGTO. What role does the tour operator play in a leading golf destination in Europe such as Andalusia?
-The tour operator is a key figure in the marketing and contracting of this product. It handles approximately 70 percent of golf tourism from northern and central Europe, especially the British and Germans, making it an essential ally for boosting this segment. In competing areas, such as the Algarve or Turkey, that percentage – in terms of arrivals – is even higher, all the more reason to maintain a good understanding with the main operators and transform it into alliances and working meetings such as the one referred to by the IAGTO on the Costa del Sol. This meeting, precisely, has been the largest that develops this organization in Spain this year and has allowed more than a thousand contacts between its partners and Andalusian tourism companies.
-With the bid to try to host the 2019 Solheim Cup, it seems that the Regional Ministry is returning to the tourism strategy of promoting major tournaments that bring the image of Andalusian golf to millions of fans around the world. Are you considering sponsoring any other major tournament in the short term?
-The Andalusian candidacy to host the 2019 Solheim Cup is, for the moment, our most ambitious challenge, but not the only one. In this sense, in terms of sponsorship, we have reoriented some objectives, especially depending on the return generated, but we have never abandoned promotion. Thus, the project to celebrate the Solheim will lead us to be present at the next edition of this tournament as it passes through Germany, during the month of September, to which we will add our collaboration with one of the main women’s amateur golf circuits at the national level, the Lady Golf.
We also participated just a few days ago in the Spanish Professional Championship in Huelva, and we took the Andalusia brand to the main European issuing markets, with a presence in the Senior European Tour and in amateur circuits for junior players, both in the United Kingdom, and in professional tournaments of the European Tour such as the Nordea Masters in Sweden, the Paris Open, the Swiss Omega European Masters, the Made in Denmark and the Dutch KLM Open.
We have even further strengthened our promotional strategy, promoting the participation of the Andalusian offer in various fairs and specialized conferences focused on the British and German markets and other issuers of interest such as Denmark, Norway and the Czech Republic.
-One of the unanimous demands of the sector is the lowering of the VAT applied to golf courses, which the central government raised at the end of 2012 from 8% to 21%. Do you see this reversion to the reduced rate as feasible and that the Ministry of Finance returns to fiscally frame golf courses as tourist facilities?
-Absolutely yes. This is what I have said every time I have had the opportunity and not only in reference to golf, but also to other tourist and cultural activities that have seen their competitiveness and employment capacity reduced due to this disastrous and unfair measure of the Government of Mariano Rajoy.
-Andalusia has tripled the number of federated golfers in a decade, which gives an idea of the boom of this sport in this autonomous community. How does the Department you preside over contribute to this boom?
-We started 2015 with more than 45,000 federated players in Andalusia. I believe that this figure dispels the old myths that placed this sport as something elitist and exclusive to a small group of users. We have proposed that golf should reach more people, extending its practice among the Andalusian population, for which we keep the public courses managed directly by the Regional Ministry in operation, which offer very balanced prices, and we are expanding the number of public golf learning schools, such as the one we will open this year in Almeria.
-What are the forecasts for tourist arrivals in Andalusia for this year? Do you think that the 24 million tourists received in 2014 will be exceeded, which was 6.6 percent more than in 2013?
-We hope to surpass this excellent figure. In fact, this year we have proposed to increase the overall number of tourists received by 5 percent, which means increasing the record by 1.2 million more tourist arrivals to Andalusia. It is an ambitious goal, but possible. The first data we are collecting support our forecast, since both travelers staying in hotel establishments and overnight stays -two of the most representative evolution indexes of any destination- show increases of more than 6 percent during the first four months of the year.
In any case, beyond the data, our permanent commitment is to consolidate these growths so that they are not just one-offs but are transformed into profitability for tourism companies and stable and quality employment for the Andalusian population.
-Andalusia is the fourth most visited Spanish destination by international tourists, behind Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands. Last year the community grew above average in foreign tourist arrivals. Could we soon be among the top three Spanish destinations in this ranking?
-Indeed, our region is the fourth among Spanish regions in foreign tourism, as well as the first and undisputed leader in domestic tourism. It is a priority for Andalusia to improve its market share in international issuers, both traditional and emerging.
But in any case, and going back to the previous answer, I believe that our goal is ourselves. Tourism is not a competition between destinations but a daily test of competitiveness, of knowing how far we are willing to go to offer the best product and service, the best quality, the most innovative and sustainable, the best balanced in price, the most attractive. Our challenge does not come from our competitors, but from being able to strive every day to offer a better destination. The tourist always rewards this effort, I am convinced, and Andalusia is earning this reward. In the field of tourism, Andalusian destinations have been playing well below par for years.
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