16/01/2017. AVE Cities Network, whose presidency is held by Seville, presented the Strategic Plan 2018-2021, designed to boost the alliance and reinforce it in the face of a new tourist landscape that requires an ever greater diversification of the offer. In a ceremony held at the Teatro Real in Madrid, prior to the official opening of the International Tourism Fair, FITUR, a document consisting of 26 specific projects to be developed over the next four years and based on the greater cooperation between the different destinations of the network, in the synergy of their respective tourist offers and in national and international promotion under the same umbrella brand.
«After ten years of history of AVE Cities Network we are facing a consolidated project that has had an undeniable contribution to the development of tourism in each and every one of the destinations that comprise it. Now it is time to give a new impulse and adapt the alliance of cities to an ever changing environment of the tourism market, to its challenges and, above all, to the needs that have been transferred by the destinations themselves, «said Antonio Muñoz, delegate of Urban Habit, Culture and Tourism of the City of Seville, who has presided over that presentation by delegation of the mayor of Seville and president of the alliance, Juan Espadas.
Antonio Muñoz explained that the strategic document is based on a «sweet» moment for tourism in Spain, with a «constant» growth in the number of travelers «for whom new tourism products and experiences have to be arbitrated». «In this sense, the variety of the offer of the destinations connected by AVE is immense. They have it all: culture, heritage, beach, nature, snow, sports … And this considerable offer, which facilitates a long stay for travelers in Spain, is key to one of the objectives of this text: to address long distance markets. Because those who come from Australia, the United States, Japan or Mexico, we offer them enough reasons to be in our destinations for weeks, «he added.
Muñoz has set an example of these opportunities in the international market: only one of the products of the Network, Renfe card, Spain Pass, allowed in the past year 21,529 travel formalizations, and more than half were monopolized by 4 countries ( United States, China, Canada and Argentina). «The strategic plan, therefore, seeks to strengthen the competitiveness of AVE destinations, boost the common brand and forge additional alliances with airlines that operate precisely the long distance markets,» he concluded.
This document has been reached after the meeting that the General Assembly of AVE Cities Network celebrated last autumn in the Sevillian capital. To contribute greater value to the tourist market with products and experiences, to turn the network into a reference product for the Spanish High Speed; reinforcing the presence of this brand in the national and international long distance market and generating more tourist activity in all its member destinations are the fundamental objectives of an alliance of cities that, in short, seeks to increase their competitiveness. A plan that includes the multiple modalities of tourist interest of those who travel to Spain: cultural tourism, urban, World Heritage, escapades, gastronomy, shopping, MICE (congresses, conventions, events, etc.), nature, interior, sun and Beach and LGBT.
Among the 26 specific initiatives that will be developed in the next four-year period, there are more cities and autonomous communities to be included in this alliance; strengthen the collaboration with Renfe and Turespaña; reach agreements with airlines; generate interdestine tables; design new communication, image and marketing plans or address more promotional work both internationally, especially in the long distance markets, as well as national.
At the presentation of this Strategic Plan have come representatives of destinations and autonomous communities that make up the network. The Director General of Tourism of the City of Madrid, Miguel Sanz, has been commissioned to welcome the Spanish capital to those present at the Teatro Real, «an icon of the city that continues to celebrate its bicentennial this year, as does Prado», and stressed that «Ave Cities Network has become a true tourist corridor in Spain that has relaunched the National tourism». For his part, the director of the Teatro Real, Ignacio García Balaguer, also dedicated a few words of thanks to the audience.
AVE Cities Network
AVE Cities Network is the association of tourist destinations in Spain connected by High Speed that was created with the aim of promoting the cities that integrate it under a common strategy, as well as its Renfe Spain Pass and Avexperience products. Currently, AVE Cities Network is chaired by Seville and consists of the cities of Albacete, Alicante, Antequera, Barcelona, Calatayud, Ciudad Real, Cordoba, Cuenca, Leon, Lleida, Madrid, Malaga, Ourense, Palencia, Puertollano, Segovia, Seville, Tarragona, Toledo, Valencia, Valladolid, Villanueva de Córdoba, Villena, Zamora and Zaragoza, which are full members, as well as Alcázar de San Juan, Elche, Granada, Murcia and Talavera de la Reina as adhered cities. Likewise, the autonomous communities that make it up are Andalucía, Aragón, Castilla La Mancha, Castilla y León, Cataluña, Comunitat Valenciana and Madrid Community.
To facilitate the trip to tourists visiting Spain and who come from other countries, Renfe articulates the Renfe Spain Pass service, linked in a special way to the Network. A new way of traveling that facilitates travel, with flexibility, being able to know several destinations of the Ave Cities Network in the same getaway. You can choose as many trips as you wish (4, 6, 8 or 10) and buy them up to 6 months in advance. Renfe Spain Pass is available in two categories (Tourist and Business) and for two age groups (children and adults); includes all AVE trains as well as long and medium distance trains. The places are booked through the Internet, travel agencies or stations.
