Spanish government will allocate 9 million euros to promote Spain as a tourist destination with campaigns targeting priority markets, under the strategic marketing plan developed by Turespaña and realized through the 33 tourist offices abroad.
The plan aims to "improve the efficiency and the promotion of tourist products in order to increase revenues from tourism, ensure growth and help boost the power of Spain’s tourism brand," saod the Secretary of State of Tourism, Isabel Borrego.
The National Plan of Tourism (PNIT) will cost from 1,600 to 1,800 million euros until 2016. The fundamental pillars of the Plan are about harnessing the power of the brand Spain, customer focus, management aimed at the retention of mature markets, market unity through the harmonization of legislation, and the promotion of public-private partnerships.
For the conversion of mature destinations, credit lines will remain enabled for the sector’s companies (200 million for SMEs; 20 million for young entrepreneurs, 28 million for the program 'Emprendetur I + D + i') and 350,000 euros will be allocated to Spanish tourism quality system.
As for the reconversion of the Institute of Touristic Studies (IET), area equipped with 4 million euros, the goal is to improve their research labor and the compilation of statistics, another of the sector’s claims, through the shift of the same to the National Statistics Institute (INE).
According to Borrego, the agreement signed with the INE for the transfer of the performance of touristic statistics has already saved a million euros, while in current spending the department it heads has achieved savings of "nearly a billion euros and of 700,00 euros in staff costs. "
"We believe that we should spend in a better and more efficient way, that’s why we have left behind ecomarketing policies that haven’t benefited us at all, policies based on subsidies and that have not been very profitable," she said.
Tourism has an overall budget of EUR 330.62 million for 2013, 24.5% less than last year’s budget, which excluded some concepts of payment, its allocation for next year has been cut by 26.2% up to 310.68 million euros. Turespaña will have a budget of 15.2% less in 2013 (83.04 million euros).