IN THIS time of crisis, Torrevieja’s Department for Tourism still recognises the need to promote the city, to attract, visitors, business and investors alike plus to support business in the City of Salt. Last week was no exception as Town Hall offices found themselves on the road once again and heading north to one of Spain’s most Cultural and Historic city’s, Valladolid. The Tourist Team displayed their new booth, filled with objects of desire, or the preverbal give-a-ways, to pass out to the thousands who visit the show every year.
The President of the Junta de Castilla y León, Juan Vicente Herrera Campo, accompanied by Javier León de la Riva (Mayor of Valladolid), Ramiro Ruiz Medrano (President of the Diputación de Valladolid) and María José Salgueiro Curtis (Minister of Tourism and Culture the Junta de Castilla y León), visited the stand of the city of Torrevieja at the opening ceremony of the fair INTUR (one of the few stands visited in his presence), a well-established traditional fair which brings together more than 1,200 exhibitors. During the visit, Councillor of Tourism of the Municipality of Torrevieja, Tomás Arenas Bueno, handed the Chairman of the Board a copy of the latest winner of the Nobel Book Prize from City of Torrevieja, Gustavo Martín Garzo’s "So close to the air" amonst other promotional items.
INTUR Fair brings together exhibitors from national and international destinations, working the various niche markets related to tourism. The annual fair reaches attracted over 43,000 visitors last week, in what marked the fourteenth edition of INTUR.
For many years, Torrevieja relied upon brick and mortar marketing, residential tourism, but with the housing boom behind them, the city is now concentrating on four key tourist pillars: trade, culture, sports and nature. Former Director of Valladolid’s ‘Conservatory of Dance’, Eva Tejedor, who now resides in Torrevieja, welcomed the initiative saying that ‘everyone in Valladolid knows the name Torrevieja, but few realise that it’s one of the most innovative city’s in Spain. They all know about our great climate, but little of what else is one offer.”
Madrid and Valladolid are just two of the major exhibitions that Torrevieja has been promoted at in 2010, with new campaigns underway for the New Year to promote not only the existing Sports City and facilities but the soon to be opened Conservatory of Music, the newly announced Performance Art Centre plus initiatives for new hotels and other developments in the pipeline.
