Juan Marín has only been Vice President and Minister of Tourism of the Andalusian Regional Government for a few months -since the end of January-. Despite this, he has quickly taken the pulse of the Ministry on which the main industry of the autonomous community depends (tourism activity represents 13% of GDP) and is very fluent in the tidal wave of figures and data that x-ray the sector.
The leader of Ciudadanos in Andalusia talks about golf and tourism, major tournaments and the international projection of the Andalusian brand through a sport that he describes as “wonderful” and that he has even practiced -very little- on occasion.
-Everyone expects the new Andalusian administration to take more interest in golf and golf tourism. What importance do you attach to this sector?
-Golf tourism is a strategic sector, as it could not be otherwise, since it brings a high added value to our autonomous community. Bearing in mind that the golf player, because there are many women who have fortunately joined the practice of this sport, usually has an average stay much longer than the average tourist in our autonomous community, around eleven or twelve days every time he/she visits us. And it is a tourist who repeats, who also tends to come at a time when we usually need to fill our hotels and give occupation to many people, and who has a very high average expenditure compared to the average that is usually in our autonomous community. Today we could estimate it at around 120 euros per day. Therefore, we have to continue betting on golf tourism. In this case not only as an image of Andalusia but above all because it helps us to fight against seasonality in many periods of the year, and there are events of a very important level that project the image we want of Andalusia abroad. We want to take Andalusia to the world and there are very important markets such as the United States and the Nordic countries especially, which are very important for us in order to guarantee those almost 31 and a half million visitors that come to Andalusia every year.
-There are more than 60 million golfers in the world, about 7 million in Europe. What is Turismo Andaluz doing and plans to do to try to increase the number of golf tourists in this autonomous community?
-We have a very strong commitment to major events. Especially there is a project in which we are working, not only we, from the Board, but also the Provincial Council of Malaga and some municipalities in the province, which is the Solheim Cup, which I think will put women’s golf and Andalusia in the target of many media that interest us for the promotion of our autonomous community. In addition, of course, there is the Andalucía Valderrama Masters, which we will continue to support in a very powerful way. This, in addition to many other collaborations throughout the year, will allow us to continue to maintain Andalusia as an important point when many golfers decide their tourist destinations, and at the same time project the image of Andalusia as a leading golf destination in the world.
-This means then that your Department will continue the policy of supporting major tournaments, with Valderrama at the forefront?
-Yes, this is already included in the 2019 Action Plan, but there are also other important tournament agreements in which we are participating and we will continue to participate, as it cannot be otherwise. I believe that what is well done is well done, and what we will try to do will be to improve those issues that also interest us as Administration. Our goal is for Andalusia to be known as a quality tourist destination, and for that we are going to put a special interest in other tools, such as digital marketing. In fact, we have tripled our budget in this line for this year so that through the networks, the new technologies on the Internet, we are able to offer the image that we intend to Andalusia.
The lowering of VAT on golf courses is a recurring issue among the sector’s demands since this tax was raised in 2012 from 8 to 21 percent when the government changed the criteria to consider them as a non-tourist activity. Any news in this regard?
-As is well known, VAT is a national tax, we do not manage it at the Andalusian level, and it is an issue that will have to be debated within the Congress of Deputies and any reform must come, as it cannot be otherwise, from the Spanish Government. There is little we can do there. We can help in other areas, and in fact we are doing so. The tax reforms that we have just approved affect everybody, and also, of course, golf course owners and businessmen in the hotel and catering sector. When we talk about lowering personal income tax, eliminating inheritance taxes, gift taxes and everything else, it is something that benefits all those who carry out an economic activity, and above all it also helps the Administration, although some people think otherwise, to collect more, because when there is more money in people’s pockets, they spend more and we collect more VAT.
-What are the expectations for tourist arrivals in Andalusia this year?
-They are very good. At the end of 2018 and with the data we were shuffling after the sector conference we held in Madrid on February 6, we had annual growth forecasts of around 2.6 or 3 percent, and the most optimistic ones took us to 4 or 4.2 percent, but we are finding that the first three months and a little bit that we have been in 2019 the results are being much higher than those we thought. For example, at Easter we will exceed by 7 percent the results of 2018, but the average in many cases, even in arrivals at our international airports, such as Malaga or Seville, are exceeding by 14 percent the arrival of tourists, especially foreigners in the first quarter of 2019, so we are optimistic. The summer is also looking very interesting. I think it is going to be a year that will surprise us and we are going to exceed all the expectations that we could initially foresee.
-Finally, have you ever played golf and what do you think of the sport?
-I have played other sports, but the truth is that I have played very little golf. I have played miniature golf, which is not golf. I have tried Sometimes with friends who do play, but you know what happens when you go with someone who plays very well, who ends up saying: wait, wait, I’m going to drink my beer. But, well, I find it exciting, especially because it is a sport that allows you to be in the middle of nature, you can chat while you get to where you have been able to send the ball to continue playing … I sincerely believe that golf has many qualities that I like, I am passionate about, and when you can practice it in an environment like Andalusia, with these temperatures, I understand that there are many people who finally bet on this beautiful and wonderful sport. So I have played very little, I am a very bad player and therefore what I hope is to have the opportunity to practice it sometime and at least do it with people who have my level, that is, beginners.
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