{"id":15025,"date":"2016-07-04T14:29:28","date_gmt":"2016-07-04T14:29:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/francisco-artacho-general-manager-of-the-public-company-turismo-de-andalucia\/"},"modified":"2016-07-04T14:29:28","modified_gmt":"2016-07-04T14:29:28","slug":"francisco-artacho-general-manager-of-the-public-company-turismo-de-andalucia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/francisco-artacho-general-manager-of-the-public-company-turismo-de-andalucia\/","title":{"rendered":"Francisco Artacho, general manager of the public company Turismo de Andaluc\u00eda"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cGOLF IS ONE OF THE ENGINES OF ANDALUCIA\u2019S ECONOMY\u201d.<\/strong><\/div>\n

He is moderately optimistic about Andaluc\u00eda\u2019s tourism prospects for 2014, after a solid year during which hotel stays increased by four per cent compared with 2013. Francisco Artacho, managing director of the public company Turismo y Deporte de Andaluc\u00eda, talks about the present and future of tourism activity in the region, with golf playing a key role. <\/p>\n

\u2013 In 2013 Andaluc\u00eda experienced growth in the number of visitors and tourism revenue. Does this signal a clear recovery for the sector? What are the Ministry for Tourism\u2019s expectations for the short and medium term? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2013 The evolution of tourism performance in Andaluc\u00eda has exceeded our expectations, as well as those of the industry, and foretells a positive end to the year. Our predictions for the whole year include growth of around four per cent in hotel stays. The good results obtained demonstrate the strength and solvency of our destination and highlight the tourism industry as one of the keys, without a doubt, for economic recovery, but there are still loose ends that need to be improved and which are indispensable for a complete recovery. One of those is employment. And that\u2019s where we need to focus all our attention, and boost our efforts. <\/p>\n

\u2013 The fight against seasonal tourism is one of the premises of the Andalucian Tourist Promotion Plan for 2014. What role does the golf sector have in this \u201cbattle\u201d? <\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2013 Golf tourism plays an important role, as it is a sector with excellent capacity to ease the seasonal nature of tourism. It is also one of the engines of Andalusia\u2019s economy, for the number of jobs it generates and for its economic impact, both direct and indirect. And that\u2019s not all: golf is a well-consolidated segment in Andaluc\u00eda that continues to maintain a highly relevant position. It\u2019s a reference point and a great ally in attracting visitors during the medium and low seasons. <\/p>\n

\u2013 In Andaluc\u00eda\u2019s budget for 2014, tourism was the ministry that suffered less than other ministries, with a reduction of 1.3 per cent compared to the previous year, when the average is 3.5 per cent. Does this mean that the Andalucian government is aware of the importance of this sector for the region\u2019s economy? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2013 Obviously it\u2019s aware. In fact, the budget remained at a similar level to 2013, falling barely 1.2 per cent; i.e. lower than the average for the region\u2019s accounts. And that is a true reflection of the significance and importance of the areas we manage in the ministry, tourism and commerce, key sectors for the Andalusian economy as they represent 22 per cent of the regional GDP and nearly one million direct and indirect jobs. <\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2013 What is the regional government\u2019s proposed budget for the promotion of this tourist destination during 2014, and what percentage of these funds is allocated to the golf sector?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2013 The promotion and marketing of the Andalucian tourist destination is one of the core focuses of our ministry\u2019s budget, and within the framework of the new Tourist Promotion Management Plan we will work to consolidate our destination\u2019s position in the markets and highlight the less known attractions. To that end, we will be allocating around 35 million euros, always with the aim of optimizing resources. As for the percentage dedicated to golf, we can\u2019t specify it yet as we are still working on the 2014 Action Plan, and it awaits final approval of the government\u2019s budget. <\/p>\n

\u2013 What kinds of promotional activities for golf are proposed in the Tourist Promotion Plan for 2014?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2013 As I observed before, we are still working on the Plan, but I can say that the golf promotional activities planned for 2014 will follow the same line as those of 2013, with initiatives aimed at both the general public and professionals (fairs, golf tournaments, sponsorships, commercial missions, investment activities, consumer activities, etc.). Also, added to that in 2014 is sponsorship of the Women\u2019s British Open at Royal Birkdale (Liverpool). <\/p>\n

\u2013 Apart from the traditional source markets for golfers, are you planning any promotions in emerging markets?<\/p>\n

\u2013 In principle yes, but we still don\u2019t have anything confirmed. In 2013 we undertook golf promotions in various countries considered to be \u201cemerging\u201d; specifically we were present in Hungary, Czech Republic and Bulgaria. In addition, there have been initiatives in Spain (in collaboration with the Royal Spanish and Royal Andalucian Golf Federations), the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, France, the Benelux countries, the Nordic countries, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, the United States and Canada. The 2014 Action Plan will be similar, in this sense, to the one for 2013, although we are still working on it. <\/p>\n

\u2013 From having three European Tour events in Andaluc\u00eda, there were none last year. Is the Ministry for Tourism, in the immediate future, expecting to resume its sponsorship of a major golf event? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2013 Professional tournaments and tours are good platforms for promoting golf tourism in any destination, but in the short term there are no plans in that respect, as they are initiatives that require large investments of funds that we don\u2019t have available in the current budgets. We are working on a new line of strategy, committed to the development of initiatives aimed at identifying our potential clients and offering them what they demand, while also prioritizing profitability as far as investment\/results is concerned. One example of this is the agreement implemented this year with the Royal Spanish Golf Federation and initiatives undertaken with specialist operators. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cGOLF IS ONE OF THE ENGINES OF ANDALUCIA\u2019S ECONOMY\u201d. He is moderately optimistic about Andaluc\u00eda\u2019s tourism prospects for 2014, after a solid year during which hotel stays increased by four per cent compared with 2013. Francisco Artacho, managing director of the public company Turismo y Deporte de Andaluc\u00eda, talks about the present and future of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3162,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[124],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-destinations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15025\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}