The Director-General of External Action, Enrique Barrasa, has presented this morning in the BTL of Lisbon the Tourist Map of the Euroregion Euroace, with the president of the Committee for Coordination and Development of the Central Region, Ana Maria Abrunhosa, and with the President of the Regional Tourism Institution ofAlentejo (ERTA), António da Silva Ceia. This presentation has taken place at the stand of Extremadura in the framework of the Lisbon Tourism Fair (BTL).
Barrasa stated that the tourism sector at the moment is contributing unquestionably to the economic recoveryof Spain and Portugal, and especially in the three regions that constitute the Euroace. This is highlighted bythedata relating to 2014, where tourists who visited the Euroace reached 4.5 million, an increase of 9% over the previous year, of which, 1.3 million were foreigners, an increase of 14.4% over 2013.
Barrasa stressed that the three regions are making a strategic commitment to the tourism sector which will appear in the Regional Operational Programs of European Funds of the three regions, which will allow to enhance the competitiveness of our enterprises, to develop the infrastructures which improves accessibility and to work intensely in promotion.
As stated by the director-general the combination produced between the good performance of this sector and the actions that are going to be implemented with the new package of European Funds make the Euroregion the best place in Europe to invest in the sector nowadays.
In this sense, Enrique Barrasa said that "the new stage of growth that Spain and Portugal are already beginning to experience, the recovery of foreign investment and our conditions and high capacities in the tourism sector are the best indicators for investors. Euroace is the number one objective for the EU and investors know it as well."
As a good example of cross-border cooperation, The Tourist Map of the Euroace been developed as a "truly cross-border" project, and it was a priority for the Tourism Sector Committee of the Euroregion. In addition, it is incorporated in the EUROACE 2020 Strategy that "commits to tourism and joint promotion" of tourism resources as one of the "priority axes to create jobs and wealth in the three regions" that will become, as Barrasa added, "one of the key sectors for the economic recovery" due to the good performance that Spain is having as well as Portugal.
EUROACE tourism offering
The tourism map of the EUROACE identifies the main tourism resources, common to all three regions, but that "singularizes our tourism offering from the other national and international offering.", highlightingthe added value based on the border, as stated by the General Director, and which represents a new tourism product", that is,the possibility to visit at a time two countries and two cultures.
Enrique Barrasa has highlighted as main elements the rich natural and cultural heritage, the exceptional environmental conditions and the complementarity among them, which are the hallmark of a wide range of tourist attractions in the Euroregion. The responsible of the External Action of the Regional Government of Extremadura, has emphasized the strengthens of the area, paying a special attention to the “Nature Tourism as one of our best assets", and has also highlighted specific products as the ornithology, represented by the treasures of the Monfrague Natural Park, or the Alentejo coast, and the Geoparks.
It has also detailed other attractions of the EUROACE, which holds 9 Nature Parks, 6 Nature Reserves, 7 Nature Monuments and 1 National Park and Biosphere Reserve.
For tourism proximity, the strategic commitment of the euroregion is focused in Cultural and Landscape Touring, especially in the area of Cultural and Gastronomy Tourism, which are represented in the three regions through great number of examples: 11 sites declared as World Heritage Site, 35 Designation of Origin and 14 Protected Geographical Indications and quality products in the territory EUROACE.
In addition, Barrasa has referred to two milestones that make 2015 a key year for tourism in our region: the declaration of Caceres as Spanish Capital of Gastronomy and in the case of Alentejo, the choice of Reguengos de Monsaraz as "European Wine City 2015 "by the European Network of Wine Cities.
Tourism map of the EUROACE
The map is structured around five routes crossing the territory of the Euroregion: the Heritage Route, the Water Route, the Green Route, the Castle Route and the Birding Route, “feeling the border not as an obstacle but as an invitation to the traveler”, highlighting the main resources that makes it a unique tourism supply.
It gathers the tourist excellence of the three regions, in an equitable manner, showing 354 enclaves and referring to 160 towns in the EUROACE.
The obverse of the map includes the above 5 pointed routes as well as the cultural agenda and the gastronomic specialties of the three regions, while the reverse shows a map of the Euroregion with road marking and major tourism attractions of the EUROACE.
This first edition consists of 4,000 copies in Spanish, 4,000 in Portuguese and 3,000 in English. Once presented at the Lisbon Travel Market (BTL), the Tourism Map of the EUROACE will be distributed across all Tourims Offices and Tourismpoints of the Euroregion, with special emphasis on those placed in the proximity of the border.
