An interview with President of the Almeria Provincial Tourist Board

Jose Añez

“The growth and development of inland Almeria is a crucial step towards creating a well-balanced province” 

Year in and year out, the Almeria Provincial Tourist Board invests enormous energy in promoting the province.

Their efforts also have a significant impact on the development of residential tourism, an aspect which board president José Añez values highly for its role in bringing the inland areas to life, “something which is a crucial step towards creating a well-balanced province”.

How important do you consider residential tourism to be?

The importance of residential tourism is that it underlines that Almeria gives visitors more options apart from staying in the many hotels and inns on offer all over the province. The exceptional climate makes it particularly attractive and the steady improvement in transport communications has benefited the whole sector.

How significant is this type of tourism in Almeria province?

The province of Almeria has long been, and still is, a highly popular destination for European visitors. This has made the tourist sector one of the main motors behind Almeria’s economic development. 

In recent years, the growth in tourism has begun to impact on some of our inland areas, which is vital if the whole province is to develop in a balanced way.

Almeria is well-known as the East Coast province with the most English settlement. Why do you think that there are relatively few other foreign nationals? Are we doing anything about this?

That so many English settle in Almeria is due mainly to its easy accessibility by air. In my opinion, we should maintain our current levels of advertising abroad, with the active support of Almeria County Council via its Tourist Board. We should pay particular attention to the people of north and central Europe, who are all potential visitors, without forgetting the southern Europeans who are attracted to our common cultural heritage and environment.

Campaigns

What promotional campaigns has the Tourist Board planned for this year? Can you give us a sneak preview?

Every year the Provincial Tourist Board puts together an annual Publicity Schedule, in which we plan out participation in tourist trade fairs in the main source countries, publicity campaigns through advertising, open days where we lay out Almeria’s attractions to tour operators and travel agents – a wide range of activities promoting the Costa de Almería’s excellence as a tourist destination. Our attendance at trade fairs and our promotional work in general take place under the banner of Turismo Andaluz, the Andalusian Tourist Authority, and so we have to tailor our annual plan to fit in with theirs.

Do any of your scheduled programmes particularly target residential tourism?

All the Tourist Board’s activities have the single aim of promoting the wonders of Almeria as a tourist destination – our fantastic climate, our beaches, our landscape: all attractions that tourists are looking to enjoy and which they will find here. This perfect fit between supply and demand benefits all market sectors, including residential tourism 

If you had the choice, what kind of tourist would you try to encourage to establish their second home in Almeria?

We are interested in them all. But, of course, our campaigns are likely to get an especially positive response in countries with which we have particularly good transport communications, such as England and Germany.

To what extent could poor air transport communications be putting a brake on Almeria’s growth as a tourist destination?

It is vital for a tourist destination to be wellconnected in transport terms, simply to make it easier to get there. A new airline has just started flights to Almeria, which has had the effect of forcing down prices and which will not only benefit our main tourist market, the Spanish, but which will also be a big plus in the international market.

The growth in residential tourism is being linked to the building of new golf courses. Do your promotion campaigns reflect this?

The aim of Tourist Board advertising campaigns is always to highlight whatever attractions Almeria has to offer as a wonderful tourist destination. The golf courses in Almeria have got together with the Board to establish a new brand, Costa de Almería Golf, which must of course be well-publicised and promoted: this type of tourism is extremely important, as we can see in other areas where it is already well-established.