Plan Nacional e Integral de Turismo ENG

Transcription

ational
and
ntegral
ourism
lan
National and Integral Tourism Plan
(Plan Nacional e Integral de Turismo: PNIT)
2012-2015
Foreword
Spain is the world’s leading tourism country. We rank first as a holiday destination,
second in tourism expenditure and fourth in the number of tourists. Tourism accounts for
over 10% of Spain’s GDP, creates 11% of the country’s jobs and helps to offset its trade
deficit. Tourism is a crucial asset for the creation of wealth and employment, acting as a
driving force even in times of downturn, and it also has a huge knock-on effect in other
productive sectors.
The Government considers tourism to be one of the main strategic thrusts for the
economic upturn in its 2012-2015 agenda. Right from the start of the legislature we have
advocated a tourism policy that helps the sector to be more competitive, more innovative
and sustainable, cementing its world leadership in the medium and long term.
After five months of work we have agreed on this National and Integral Tourism Plan
(Plan Nacional e Integral de Turismo: PNIT) with all public and private stakeholders,
doing so in a climate of dialogue and collaboration. It is a roadmap with groundbreaking
solutions for the various challenges faced by the tourism industry.
We are working with a four-year strategy. We now stand in need, more than ever, of the
commitment of government authorities at all levels, tourism companies, workers and all
other stakeholders to reach the objectives they have all helped to set. It is the
responsibility of each and every one of us to see this through. Thank you for your inputs
and future contributions to the objectives of this Plan. I am convinced that the response
will be overwhelmingly positive and we will all pull together to strengthen and consolidate
one of our country’s most clearly competitive sectors. We can hardly afford to turn our
backs on such an economic boon in these difficult but clearly surmountable times.
José Manuel Soria López
Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism (Ministro de Industria, Energía y Turismo)
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Plan Nacional e Integral de Turismo 2012-2015
The State Secretariat for Tourism (Secretaría de Estado de
Turismo) would like to express its gratitude for the nearly two
hundred inputs received from public, private and social
stakeholders on the various forums where this Plan and its
intentions have been presented.
These contributions and concerns have all been conducive to a
more fruitful reflection process and most of them have been
recorded in this PNIT. We are delighted to be working in line
with the needs expressed by the sector itself.
6
Contents
Presentation ...................................................................................................................... 5
Initials and abbreviations ............................................................................................... 11
Introduction ............................................................................................................. 13
Introduction to the PNIT ................................................................................................. 15
Structure of the PNIT ...................................................................................................... 18
Taking Stock ............................................................................................................ 21
Overview of the tourism sector ..................................................................................... 23
Diagnosis ........................................................................................................................ 25
Opportunities and threats .............................................................................................. 26
Strengths and weaknesses ........................................................................................... 28
Strength of the Spain brand...................................................................................... 29
Focus on clients (demand) ....................................................................................... 30
Supply-side and destinations .................................................................................... 32
Alignment of public-private stakeholders .................................................................. 33
Knowledge ............................................................................................................... 34
Talent and entrepreneurship .................................................................................... 35
Destination Spain: Vision and Objectives ............................................................. 37
Destination Spain: Vision............................................................................................... 39
Objetives of Desination Spain ....................................................................................... 40
Measures .................................................................................................................. 53
Strength of the Spain brand ........................................................................................... 57
Coordinated development of the Spain brand ................................................................ 57
Promotion of the Strategic Marketing Plan (Plan Estratégico de Marketing) ................. 58
Permanent EU representation of Spain's tourism interests ........................................... 60
Focus on clients ............................................................................................................. 61
Launching of the programme “Fidelización España” (Customer loyalty programme) .... 61
Promoting a campaign to stimulate national tourism demand ........................................ 62
Modulation of airport fees .............................................................................................. 64
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Streamlining the tourism visa process ........................................................................... 65
Supply-side and destinations ........................................................................................ 68
Support for the repositioning of mature destinations ...................................................... 68
Credit facilities for renewing tourism infrastructure ........................................................ 70
Support for Tourism Municipalities................................................................................. 71
Smart destinations: innovation in destination management ........................................... 72
Networks of customer experience management agencies ( agencias de gestión de
experiencias) ................................................................................................................. 74
Standardisation of the rating and categorisation of hotels, rural accommodation and
campsites ...................................................................................................................... 76
Evolution of the Spanish Tourism Quality System (Sistema de Calidad Turístico
Español) ....................................................................................................................... 77
Bringing out the importance of Spain's cultural and natural heritage, wine and cuisine .. 79
Encouragement of eco-friendly, sustainable tourism ..................................................... 83
Alignment of public and private stakeholders .............................................................. 85
Analysis of the impact of all proposed legislation on the tourism sector ........................ 85
Promoting market unity.................................................................................................. 85
Amendment of tourism-affecting legislation ................................................................... 87
A.- Labour market reform ......................................................................................... 87
B.- Amendment of the Coastal Law (Ley de Costas) ................................................ 88
C.- Amendment of the Intellectual Property Law (Ley de Propiedad Intelectual)....... 90
D.- Amendment of the Urban Leasehold Law (Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos) ..... 90
E.- Amendment of the Water Law (Ley de Aguas) .................................................... 91
Bringing the private sector into Turespaña’s decision-making and financing processes 92
Support for the internationalisation of Spain's tourism firms ........................................... 92
Single window for groundbreaking entrepreneurs and firms .......................................... 93
Knowledge ...................................................................................................................... 95
Drawing up the Turespaña Services Catalogue ............................................................. 95
Reorganisation and modernisation of the Spanish Diplomatic-Mission Tourism
Departments Abroad (Consejerías de Turismo de España en el Exterior) ..................... 96
Reorientation of national tourism statistics..................................................................... 97
Talent and entrepreneurship ....................................................................................... 100
Credit facilities for young tourism entrepreneurs .......................................................... 100
Programme of innovating tourism entrepreneurs ......................................................... 100
Bringing training and research procedures into line with business demand ................. 101
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Prioritisation of measures .................................................................................... 103
Prioritisation methodology .......................................................................................... 105
Measure prioritisation criteria....................................................................................... 105
Ease of implementation: ......................................................................................... 105
The impact of the measure: .................................................................................... 106
The prioritisation matrix ............................................................................................... 107
Assessment of the measures ...................................................................................... 108
The prioritisation matrix ............................................................................................... 110
Monitoring and Control ......................................................................................... 113
Coordination instruments ............................................................................................ 115
Monitoring and control ................................................................................................. 117
Annex ..................................................................................................................... 119
PNIT inputs.................................................................................................................... 121
9
Initials and Abbreviations
AGE:
Administración General del Estado (Central Government)
AENA:
Aeropuertos Españoles y Navegación Aérea (Spanish Airports and Air
Navigation Authority)
CEHAT:
Confederación Española de Hoteles y Alojamientos Turísticos
(Spanish Hotel and Tourism Accommodation Confederation)
CEOE:
Confederación Española de Organizaciones Empresariales (Spanish
Business Organisation Confederation)
CNAE:
Clasificación Nacional de Actividades Económicas (National
Classification of Economic Activities)
CONESTUR:
Consejo Español de Turismo (Spanish Tourism Board)
EE.LL:
Entidades locales (Local authorities)
ENISA:
Empresa Nacional de Innovación, S.A.
FECOHT-CCOO:
Federación de Comercio, Hostelería y Turismo de Comisiones Obreras
(Federation of Commerce, Hotel Trade and Tourism of the TradeUnion Comisiones Obreras)
FEMP:
Federación Española de Municipios y Provincias (Spanish Federation
of Municipalities and Provinces)
FOMIT:
Fondo financiero del Estado para la Modernización de las
Infraestructuras Turísticas (State Fund for the Modernisation of
Tourism Infrastructure)
ICEX:
Instituto Español de Comercio Exterior (Spanish Overseas Trade
Institute)
ICO:
Instituto de Crédito Oficial (Official Credit Institute)
ICT:
Information and Communication Technologies
IET:
Instituto de Estudios Turísticos (Tourism Studies Institute)
INE:
Instituto Nacional de Estadística (National Statistics Institute)
LAU:
Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos (Urban Leasehold Law)
MAEC:
Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores y Cooperación (Ministry of Overseas
Affairs and Cooperation)
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MAGRAMA:
Ministerio de Agricultura, Alimentación y Medio Ambiente (Ministry of
Agriculture, Food and the Environment)
MICE:
Meetings, Incentives, Congresses and Exhibitions
OET:
Oficinas Españolas de Turismo (Spanish Tourism Offices)
SCTE:
Sistema de Calidad Turístico Español (Spanish Tourism Quality
System)
SEGITTUR:
Sociedad Estatal para la Gestión de la Innovación y las Tecnologías
Turísticas (State Corporation for the Management and Innovation of
Tourism Technologies)
SICTED:
Sistema Integral de Calidad Turística en Destinos (Integral System of
Destination Tourism Quality)
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TURESPAÑA:
Instituto de Turismo de España (Spanish Tourism Institute)
WTO:
World Tourism Organisation
Plan Nacional e integral de Turismo 2012-2015
I
NTRODUCTION
MINISTERIO
DE INDUSTRIA, ENERGÍA
Y TURISMO
SECRETARÍA DE ESTADO DE
TURISMO
Introduction to the PNIT
Spain is the world’s leading tourism country. It ranks second in tourism revenue and
fourth in the number of international tourists1. Tourism is crucial for Spain’s economy,
accounting as it does for over 10.2% of the GDP2, providing 11.39% of the country’s
jobs3 and offsetting the lopsidedness of Spain’s trade balance. In the current juncture the
strategic sectors of Spain’s economy should act as levers to raise the country back onto
the path of growth and create employment. Tourism should be one of the top-priority bids
among these most dynamic sectors, as one of the most across-the-board activities and
the strongest driving force, and also because of its orientation towards the markets
showing budding signs of recovery.
It is no less true, however, that Spain’s tourism activity has lost much of its
competitiveness 4 in recent years, raising doubts and qualms about our model’s social,
environmental and economic sustainability in the future. All the signs are that a 50-year
economic cycle is now approaching its end; the new world tourism leaders are now
basing their success on innovation. It is therefore essential to take on measures that act
as a turning point, nipping this decline in the bud and kindling growth underpinned by
solid bases to ensure the future leadership and competitiveness of Spain’s model.
The national government, mindful of the sheer importance of tourism for Spain, is keen to
drive the Plan Nacional e Integral de Turismo (PNIT) through the Secretaría de Estado
de Turismo as a set of measures for the period 2012–2015, to boost the competitiveness
of tourism firms and Spain’s destinations, renew Spain’s world leadership for the coming
decades and contribute towards the generation of Spain’s wealth, employment and wellbeing.
Under these circumstances the PNIT is conceived as a response to the main needs
expressed by the tourism sector, stressing the following fundamental aspects:
1
World Tourism Organisation , WTO.
Instituto Nacional de Estadística, INE, Cuenta Satélite de Turismo (Tourism Satellite Account), advanced figures
for 2010.
3
Instituto de Estudios Turísticos, Afiliación a la Seguridad Social (Social Security Registration), 2011 (activities
bearing the closest relationship to tourism).
4
th
th
It has dropped from 5 to 8 in the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index of the World Economic Forum,
WEF, 2009 and 2011.
2
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MINISTERIO
Y TURISMO

Leadership of the national government to team up stakeholders and resources in
a common endeavour.

Public-private collaboration assuring alignment both in policy design and in
decision-taking and the financing of tourism promotion.

Design of across-the-board policies for decision-taking purposes and the
establishment of strategies, taking in all the organisations of the central
government (Administración General del Estado: AGE), and the various
government levels (Europe, National, Regional and Local).

Establishment of an institutional structure and framework to boost the
competitiveness of tourism companies, stressing the building of a single market
and favouring the harmonisation of legislation throughout the whole national
territory.

In destination Spain it is essential for all stakeholders to sing from the same
songsheet, pursuing an innovative vision in policy design: Spain as a touristcentred destination.
On the basis of the above aspects and in the current economic circumstances, the PNIT
has been designed with the following characteristic features:
National
Integral
The plan puts forward a vision to make this
nation stand out from the rest. It aims to
ensure that “Destination Spain”, country
brand to the fore, can more than hold its
own in terms of attracting tourists and
proposing tourism services.
Its integral character takes in nearly all
aspects across the board (political, social,
economic, cultural…), as befits a campaign
to lay down the bases for a change of cycle.
Strategic but operational approach
The PNIT defines the keynote ideas for
boosting
the
tourism
sector’s
competitivesness from the operational point
of view, transforming the strategies into
specific actions and measures.
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TURISMO
Based on previous plans
The PNIT sets out to build on previous plans
whilst
also
tackling
the
necessary
tranformations for dealing with a change of
cycle and a global downturn.
Plan Horizonte 2020
Strategic Marketing Plan
Integral Spanish Tourism Quality Plan
C21st Coastal Plan
Coordinated, controlled and measurable
The Plan defines coordination, control and
monitoring mechanisms. Indicators will be
established to gauge progress in implementing
the measures and achieving Plan aims.
Transparent
Transparent execution of the measures through
public feedback on progress.
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Y TURISMO
Structure of the PNIT
This Plan has been designed on the basis of the following methodology:
PNIT DEVELOPMENT
METHODOLOGY
Destination Spain
…
1970-1987
Measure
1
Measure 2
Measure N
1955-1969
Objective 1
Objective N
Objective 2
…
Objective 3
CURRENT SITUATION
(TAKING STOCK)
Strength of
the
Spain
brand
Focus on
clients
Supply-side
and
destinations
Alignment of
public-private
stakeholders
Knowledge
Talent and
entrepreneurship
MAIN THRUSTS
1. Analysis of the sector’s current situation and diagnosis of the main problems that
might be to blame for this situation.
o
Dynamic of the change of cycle currently being experienced by the sector,
due mainly to the demographic and technological changes of recent
years.
o
Diagnosis to analyse the strengths,
opportunities of Destination Spain.
weaknesses,
threats
and
2. Once the current situation has been established, a definition is then made of the
desired future situation or vision for the Spanish tourism sector in the mid term.
3. In pursuit of this desired situation and on the basis of the above diagnosis,
specific objectives are then set for working towards this defined future vision for
the tourism sector. These objectives are accompanied by a set of monitoring
indicators to ascertain the progress made in reaching this defined vision.
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TURISMO
4. As a conclusion of all the above analysis, a package of innovation-based,
government-led measures is defined to support achievement of the objectives set
from each one of the pivotal thrusts of Destination Spain.
5. The next step is the prioritisation of measures. To this end a prioritisation
methodology has been drawn up, on the basis of their ease of implementation
and sector impact.
6. Lastly, it is essential to identify the coordination instruments between all
stakeholders to ensure proper liaison throughout the whole project.
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T
AKING STOCK
TURISMO
MINISTERIO
Y TURISMO
Taking Stock
Overview of the tourism sector
Since 2008 there has been a worldwide seachange in the economic situation, affecting
all activity sectors and tourism in particular.
This new scenario coincides in time with a long term change of cycle 5 affecting the
tourism sector for the first time ever, sapping the sector’s vitality and reflecting a
watershed moment in its history.
The tourism sector, indeed, has passed through various stages since its beginnings, as
shown in the figure below:
Spring
Growth
 First tour
operators
 Civil aviation
main means of
transport
 Birth of charter
companies
Summer
Autumn
Prosperity
Recession
 Expansion of the
main worldwide
outbound markets
 High sector
profitability in line
with the economic
welfare boom
Winter
Depression
1988-2009
2010- …
 Deregulation of associated
sectors.
 Internet.
 Price-based competition.
 New competing
destinations
 Business concentration
 Problems of mass tourism
 Low inflation rates
 Exhausted market
potential: fall in
prices
 Decline of old
technologies
 Unemployment
(*) Fuente: M. Butler. FAES
2011.
5
23
M. Butler. ”La competitividad en el turismo español”. FAES 2011
MINISTERIO
Y TURISMO
TURISMO
Taking Stock
The characteristic traits of the tourism sector’s current stage are:

Demographic change in European societies, the baby boom generation soon
reaching retirement age (as from 2015).

Fall in Western Europe’s demand due to declining economic activity and the
concomitant income reduction of 80% of the tourists coming to Spain.

Supply glut as demand shrinks, the fierce competition then forcing the least
efficient and profitable companies to the wall.

Breakage of the value chain in which the tourist takes centre stage in the tourism
business; the sector now has to exploit this change by thinking up new marketing
management disciplines.
All this calls for a rethink of the whole tourism sector on the basis of tourist-centred
innovation. This implies new models of business management; new forms of
communication; the search for client well-being in the widest sense, paying special
attention to health and the relation with the environment.
Any tourism destinations that fail to take this new situation into account and adapt
themselves to it are bound to steadily lose ground in the market.
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Taking Stock
Diagnosis
The diagnosis made in this Plan of the current situation of Spain’s tourism sector does
not set out to be exhaustive. Rather does it fall within the remit of the Secretaría de
Estado de Turismo, whose responsibility it is to favour coordination between the different
government levels, establish the framework that enables companies to improve their
competitiveness, providing value-added services to drive private initiative and promoting
destination Spain among international markets.
The PNIT also addresses the top-priority tourism issues affecting the Spanish tourism
sector and paving the way for the change of cycle ahead.
The approach is based on the idea of Spain as a competing destination with other
nations, so its whole strategy and all its resources need to be lined up in a common
endeavour to ensure that it stands out from the rest.
In the diagnosis, drawing from various sources6, the following aspects are analysed:

The opportunities and threats that might affect both Destination Spain and other
competing countries.

The strengths and weaknesses of Destination Spain in terms of its competition
with other nations: resources and strategies.
6
As well as the explicitly quoted sources, consideration has also been given to plan analysis
statements and reports drawn up earlier by Turespaña.
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Y TURISMO
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Taking Stock
Opportunities and threats
Analysis of the main trends and developments in international tourism in recent years
brings out an appreciable change in the model of the tourism sector.
Tourists are steadily becoming more choosy and critical, using internet and social
networking sites to glean a huge amount of information and opinions on tourism
destinations, greatly increasing their decision-making powers.
In this context the tourism sector can no longer afford to base its competitive edge on
easily replicated attributes. This strategy would eventually boil down inter-country
competition to price alone.
In this scenario certain threats and opportunities stand out for Spain’s tourism sector:
Threats: these involve factors that are external to the country and affect it adversely.
26

The worsening economic downturn in Europe: although this situation
affects all productive sectors, the special dependence of Spain’s tourism
sector on traditional outbound countries tends to multiply its impact. The
growth forecasts for Spain’s main markets in 2012 are 0.7% in Germany,
0.5% in the UK and France and a fall of 1.4% in Italy. (European Commission,
2012)

Threat of destinations from the Mediterranean Arc: based on pricecompetitive seaside tourism. An 8% increase in international tourist arrivals to
North Africa is forecast for 2012. (WTO, 2012)

High seasonality due to the common holiday periods: many outbound
countries tend to take their main holidays on the same dates (Easter,
Christmas, summer holidays…).

Improvement of developing countries’ country brand: quite apart from
Spain’s natural competitors, the improvement in the economic and social
development of many countries has raised the level of their country brand and
attraction as a tourism destination.
MINISTERIO
Y TURISMO
TURISMO
Taking Stock
Opportunities: these are country-external factors that could affect it positively:

Emerging outbound tourism markets, not only those close to destinations on
the Mediterranean arc but also the countries of Eastern Europe and
elsewhere. In 2011, for example, China increased its tourism expenditure by
32%, Russia by 22% and Brazil by 30%. (WTO, 2012).

Population ageing in Spain’s main outbound countries, increasing potential
demand for health and wellness tourism.

The demand for eco-friendly tourism is growing among international tourists.

Existence of a wide range of intermediaries ready to promote products with a
distinctive, standout feel in markets looking for new experiences.

In the categories of urban, cultural, internal tourism, MICE7, enogastronomic
tourism and others, the main purchasing-decision factors are more bound up
with product attributes than price.

Talent from other sectors: tourism is a highly transverse activity; this opens
up the possibility of phasing in talent from other sectors to meet tourism’s
growing needs (e.g. information and communication technologies – ICTs- the
environment, health, design, agrofood, infrastructure, etc.)

Tourism as a strategic sector in the European Union: tourism features
prominently in both the Treaty of Lisbon and the “Madrid Declaration” 8
intended to promote tourism as one of the top-priority sectors with specific
growth and consolidation strategies, as reflected in the EU’s budget
framework 2014-2020. Inclusion of tourism as a specific objective in the
Programme for the Competitiveness of enterprises and SMEs (COSME).
7
Meetings, incentives, conferences, exhibitions
“Europe, the world's No 1 tourist destination – a new political framework for tourism in
Europe”
8
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Taking Stock
Strengths and Weaknesses
The strengths and weaknesses associated with Destination Spain are categorised in
terms of the pivotal resource- and strategy-factors:

Strength of the Spain brand: coordinated promotion of the Spain brand.

Focus on clients: demand management.

Supply-side and Destinations: product management.

Alignment of public-private stakeholders

Knowledge: management and sharing of tourism knowledge.

Talent and entrepreneurship: suitable training and entrepreneurship.
Strength
of the
Spain Brand
Talent and
Focus on
Entrepreneurship
clients
Destination
Spain
Supply-side
and
Knowledg
destinations
Public-Private
Alignment
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Taking Stock
An analysis is given below of the current situation of each one of these pivotal factors:
Strength of the Spain brand
The Spain brand, and especially the tourism brand, is a key asset in the economy,
calling for efficient management coordinated with all stakeholders to help build it up
(public authorities, private sector and civil society).
Strengths:

Among the components making up the country brand according to the Country
Brand Index (quality of life, value system, inheritance and culture …) features
the tourism attribute, where Spain ranked third worldwide in 2011.

Widespread renown of Spain’s tourism brand in countries where Spain is the
leading tourism destination (MPG, 2011):
Country
Ranking of Spain as
chosen tourism
destination
Renown of Spain’s
9
tourism brand
United
Kingdom
1st
50.5%
Germany
1st
40.2%
France
1st
38.5%
Holland
1st
35.2%
Weaknesses:

In recent years Spain has been sliding down the world rankings. In the ranking
reports drawn up by Future Brand, Spain, in the last 3 years has come 10th
(2009), 14th (2010) and 14th (2011). (Future Brand).

Weak commitment of Spain’s entrepreneurship to construction of the Spain
brand.
9
Percentage of respondents answering “Spain” when asked for the first tourism destination that
springs to mind when they think about a trip abroad.
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Taking Stock

Lack of renown and low ranking of Spain’s tourism brand in the main emerging
markets (MPG, 2011):
Country
Ranking of Spain as chosen
tourism destination
Renown of Spain’s
10
tourism brand
Russia
5th
17.7%
Brazil
4th
18.9%
China
6th
15%
Focus on clients (demand)
This section analyses the main characteristics of the current demand for Spain as a
tourism destination and the access strategy to these markets.
Strengths:

High degree of customer loyalty in traditional European markets as reflected
by a high return rate of holiday-making clients. 83.5% of tourists that visited
Spain in 2011 had already visited the country beforehand, with an even higher
percentage being recorded by Spain’s main outbound tourism countries such
as the United Kingdom, Portugal, France and Germany, with figures of 90.3%,
90.2%, 88.5% and 88.4% respectively. (IET, 2011).

Spain’s image as a tourism destination improves upon first acquaintance; after
the first visit tourists, arriving with low expectations, tend to be pleasantly
surprised. The percentage of tourists who give a positive rating to Spain’s
infrastructure and facilities (roads, healthcare…) increases after familiarisation
from 30% to 58%, the accommodation-quality rating from 41% to 62% and
hospitality rating from 62% to 82%. (IKERFEL, 2010).

Tapping into the growth in emerging countries: in some emerging countries
the growth of tourism expenditure in Spain is higher than the overall growth
rate in that country’s outbound tourism expenditure. For example, while
Russia increased its international tourism expenditure by 22% from 2010 to
2011 (WTO, 2012), the expenditure of Russian tourists in Spain grew by
10
Percentage of respondents answering “Spain” when asked for the first tourism destination that
springs to mind when they think about a trip abroad
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Taking Stock
double this figure in 2010 (IET, 2011). Likewise, while Brazil’s international
tourism expenditure has increased by 30% (WTO, 2012), the expenditure of
Brazilian tourists in Spain grew by over 30% from 2010 to 2011. (IET, 2011).
Weaknesses:
31

Demand concentrated in a handful of countries, in terms of both the number of
tourists and their generated expenditure. The tourism expenditure
percentages of Spain’s main outbound tourism markets are: United Kingdom
(20%), Germany (16.4%), France (10.1%), Italy (5.6%) and the Netherlands
(4.6%). (IET, 2011). This concentration is especially heavy in seaside-resort
tourism. There has also been a significant fall in the total tourism expenditure
in Spain for some of these markets. From 2007 to 2011, the tourism
expenditure in Spain fell by 22.4% for the United Kingdom, 6% for Germany
and 6% for Italy (IET, 2011).

Low rating as a destination by tourists who have not yet visited Spain. The
lowest rated factors are the environment (23%), prices (25%), infrastructure
(30%) and accommodation quality (41%). (IKERFEL, 2010)

From their home countries tourists cannot perceive all the tourism possibilities
on offer in destination Spain. The real, distinctive features of many
destinations, what really sets them apart from the rest, are not properly
reflected in package tours. Lack of uniformity, low critical mass and the lack of
commercial organisation all hinder the packaging of these standout tourism
products.

Fees for use of airport and seaport infrastructure are often set without any
consideration for their impact on tourism and their capacity of solving the
seasonal lopsidedness of the demand and developing high-potential tourism
segments such as cruises, city visits or city-breaks.

The attributes sought by the seaside-resort target market, such as climate,
beaches and surroundings, can be easily matched by other destinations; this
tends to boil down competition to price alone.

Fall in the proportion of trips by the Spanish to national destinations in
comparison to trips by Spanish abroad, dropping from 93.4% to 91.7% from
2008 to 2011. (IET, 2011)
MINISTERIO
Y TURISMO
TURISMO
Taking Stock

Promotion and communication of the attributes of Spain’s tourism brand, as
well as the allocation of human, financial and technical resources for
promotion purposes, is not sufficiently tailored to the characteristics of each
target market.
Supply-side and Destinations
The section analyses the main characteristics of the tourism supply of destination
Spain, from the point of view of tourism resource and product.
Strengths:

Great quantity and variety of infrastructure suitable for tourism use.

World leader in seaside-resort tourism, well established and featuring strongly
in the tour operation supply, acting as a European benchmark at the service
and infrastructure level.

Great diversity and variety of resources that enrich cultural and natural
tourism: Spain ranks 2nd and 35th out of 139 countries in the study “The Travel
& Tourism Competitiveness Report 2011” in terms of cultural and natural
resources, respectively. (World Economic Forum, 2011).

Accessibility of nearly all destinations thanks to thoroughgoing development of
the transport industry and infrastructure, mainly by land and air. Good climate,
high level of law and order and first rate healthcare and assistance services.
Weaknesses:
32

The downward spiralling or freezing of traditional seaside-resort tourism prices
exerts a growing pressure on costs, with a knock on effect on service quality;
this eats into profits and therefore reduces ploughback investment in the
modernisation of establishments. In 2011 hotel prices fell by over 9% on 2007.
(INE, 2011)

Heavy lopsidedness of Spain’s tourism supply in favour of seaside-resort
tourism, now showing signs of flagging but still dominating over the other
MINISTERIO
Y TURISMO
TURISMO
Taking Stock
categories like urban, cultural, internal, rural, MICE, enogastronomic tourism
et al.

Heavy seasonality of seaside-resort tourism. The characteristics of this
category of tourism makes it difficult to spread the tourism activity more evenly
round the rest of the year (except in the Canary Isles), with all the concomitant
problems of sustainability.

High environmental impact of the Spanish tourism sector, Spain coming 47th
out of 139 countries in the study The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness
Report 2011 in relation to the sustainability of T&T industry development.
(World Economic Forum, 2011)

Low innovation investment in tourism firms: in companies of the hotel trade
(CNAE [National Classification of Economic Activities] 55 and 56) the
innovation rate is 0.15 as compared to 0.86 in the service sector and 1.48 in
industry. (Instituto Nacional de Estadística, 2010)

Failure to bring local-government financing distribution into line with the
particular traits of municipalities with a high proportion of floating population in
relation to the fixed population.

Dispersion of service standards due to the highly scattered nature of the
tourism industry and the majority proportion of SMEs.

Low integration of publicly managed culture and nature assets with the tourism
sector. These assets, which could be crucial in helping Spain’s tourism stand
out from its competitors, are not properly integrated into the distribution
outlets.
This section analyses the alignment of the public services and tourism policy with the
needs of the business sector.
33
MINISTERIO
Y TURISMO
TURISMO
Taking Stock
Strengths:

High convening capacity by the national government, favouring the alignment
of the whole sector.

Favourable attitude by the business sector and public at large towards
innovative initiatives and reforms.
Weaknesses:

Legislation does not lay down the best possible competitiveness framework for
developing tourism business. There is no legislation uniformity and a general
failure to assess the tourism impact when passing new laws.

Little integration between the public and private sector in decision taking and
the financing of Spain as a tourism destination.

Dispersion and scattering of organisations bidding for financing instruments,
subsidies, projects and other resources at all geographical levels.
Knowledge
This section analyses the capacity of culling and managing knowledge on the
Spanish tourism sector, from the supply- and demand-side and also in terms of
competitiveness, among other factors.
Strengths:
34

Availability of top-quality public and private databases and sources to be
drawn on to gain a better knowledge of the sector.

Network of Spanish tourism offices abroad (Spanish Tourism Offices: OET),
which act as antennae, furnishing knowledge and liaison with the sector in the
outbound markets.
MINISTERIO
Y TURISMO
TURISMO
Taking Stock
Weaknesses:

The knowledge supply is not structured to meet the needs of sector demand.

Tourism-knowledge generation and operation centres working with a
piecemeal vision and little input of added value.
Talent and Entrepreneurship
The last of the pivotal factors corresponds to the encouragement of innovative
management on the strength of talent and entrepreneurship. A crucial factor here is
to ensure a proper level of training and incentives, enabling the sector to work in a
more professional fashion.
Strengths:

Spain boasts a wide-ranging supply of university and occupational tourism
training. Pride of place here goes to the online university research and training
network through the University Network of Tourism Postgraduates (Red
Universitaria de Postgrados en Turismo: REDINTUR), currently comprising 19
Spanish universities that offer postgraduate, master and doctorate syllabi in
different fields of tourism.

Spain has top-ranking business schools worldwide: two business schools rank
among the first 10 and a third 33rd worldwide (Financial Times, 2012); these
are potential sources for attracting talent to the sector.
Weaknesses:
35

The tourism sector is not perceived as a prestigious sector to work in or do
business with. It has a long-standing association with unskilled work, low
wages and high rate of temporary employment contracts.

The training and research supply has not been properly tailored to meet the
needs of the tourism sector.

Lack of hotel and restaurant-trade training institutions with a recognised
international prestige.
D
V
O
ESTINATION
ISION AND
BJECTIVES
S
PAIN:
TURISMO
MINISTERIO
Y TURISMO
Destination Spain
Destination Spain: Vision
“Destination Spain has been designed to stand out from the rest, with all the
cultural, natural, business and public-service resources placed at the service of
tourists”
DESTINATION SPAIN: VISION
Leader with international
projection
Efficient business model with
Europe as frame of reference
Environmentally, socially and
economically sustainable
Excellent pool of talent
(innovation)
With profitable
destinations
Tourist
Collaboration between public
and private sectors
Internet savvy
The vision of Destination Spain endorsed by the PNIT has the following features:
39

Leader destination with international projection, ensuring that the client
understands what makes Spain stand out from other countries.

Economically, socially and environmentally sustainable, generating sufficient
returns for keeping up a high added value; generating quality jobs and making a
responsible use of natural resources.

With economically profitable destinations, thereby encouraging both public and
private investment to develop Spain’s competitive model.
MINISTERIO
Y TURISMO
TURISMO
Destination Spain

Efficient in its business model, a worldwide benchmark in terms of management
and profitability.

An excellent talent level, as the basis for management of both destinations and
tourism firms and as seedbed for innovative entrepreneurship.

Internet savvy to maximise the benefits of information and communication
technologies as a continual transformation vector of the tourism sector.

Collaborative between the public, private sector and the other tourism social
stakeholders and organisations, for defining strategies and joint actions to
improve the value of Spain’s tourism for its clients.
Objectives for Destination Spain
In pursuit of the desired vision of Destination Spain the PNIT lays down a series of
objectives for the Spanish tourism sector, to be supported by a set of measures.
The 7 objectives making up the PNIT are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Boost tourism activity and profitability.
Generate quality employment.
Encourage market unity.
Improve the international ranking.
Enhance the cohesion and renown of the Spain brand.
Favour public-private co-responsibility.
Work towards the deseasonalisation of tourism.
These objectives will be accompanied by 3 instruments:
a) Boosting knowledge, entrepreneurship and training.
b) Improve the tourism supply.
c) Diversify demand.
Indicators have been identified to gauge the degree of compliance of the defined
objectives and instruments from two perspectives:
40
MINISTERIO
Y TURISMO
TURISMO
Destination Spain
From the first perspective indicators have been selected to compare Spain’s position with
Europe’s most competitive tourism countries11 (Switzerland, Germany, France, Austria,
Sweden, United Kingdom, Spain, Iceland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg) as well as
Mediterranean countries (Italy, Croatia, Greece, Turkey, Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco).
From a second perspective indicators have been selected12 to gauge the development of
the internal structural aspects that define Spain’s tourism sector.
11
Selection from The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum, WEF,
2011.
12
The design of the proposed indicators has been limited to the information sources available today.
Ideally, certain additional indicators should be created in the future for measuring some of the PNIT
objectives with greater precision.
41
TURISMO
MINISTERIO
Y TURISMO
Destination Spain
Description
Boost tourism activity and profitability
Boost sector activity by increasing revenue and associated profitability.
The aim of this objective is to stress the PNIT’s proposal of increasing the expenditure
of each international tourist and the margin or profitability associated with tourismrelated revenue
Total tourism revenue
Gross Operating Surplus (GOS) per employee
Description
Structural Business Statistics
Eurostat.
Difference between the GOS per
employee of Europe and Spain’s main
competitors.
Average daily expenditure of tourists
This indicator measures one of the most important results sought by the objective: the
average daily expenditure associated with each international tourist that has visited Spain.
The average daily expenditure gives a good working idea of this.
Source
Indicator
1.c
42
Trend of tourism revenue as an entry in
the balance of payments
The surplus generated by operating activities after the labour factor input has been
recompensed, divided between the total occupied employees of the sector.
This indicator aims to compare this surplus per employee in Spain against its main
competitors, as a measurement of profitability and productivity.
Source
Indicator
1.b
Balance of payments.
Bank of Spain (BE in Spanish initials).
Description
This indicator aims to measure the trend of tourism revenue as an entry in the balance of
payments.
Source
Indicator
1.a
EGATUR (Spanish Tourism Expenditure
Survey).
Instituto de Estudios turísticos.
Description
Objective
1
Annual variation in the average daily
expenditure of international tourists in
Spain.
TURISMO
MINISTERIO
Y TURISMO
2
Generating quality jobs
Description
Objective
Destination Spain
Increase the sector’s remunerative level and its stability over time.
These factors, as variables for studying employment quality, have to be compared with
the average figure for all sectors in Spain.
2.a
Mean hourly wage
43
Trend in the difference between the
average hourly wage of characteristic
tourism activities and the average for all
sectors as a whole. The characteristic
tourism activities are defined by the
Word Tourism Organisation in its
recommendations for drawing up the
Tourism Satellite Account
Temporary employment contracts against open-ended contracts
Labour Force Survey (Encuesta de
Población Activa: EPA. )
Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE).
Description
This indicator makes it possible to compare the tourism sector’s labour stability with the total
figure for sectors as a whole. Its trend gauges how far employment stability is being
achieved for tourism employees.
Source
Indicator
2.b
Encuesta Trimestral de Coste Laboral
(Quarterly Labour Cost Survey)
Description
Source
Indicator
This indicator assesses the remunerative level of people employed in the tourism sector as
compared to all sectors as a whole.
Trend in the difference between the
percentage of temporary contracts in
characteristic tourism activities as
compared with sectors as a whole.
TURISMO
MINISTERIO
Y TURISMO
3
Encourage market unity
Description
Objective
Destination Spain
Develop a common legislative framework that facilitates and stimulates the development
of tourism in Spain.
3.a
Transparency of government policies
The aim here is to harmonise the wide-ranging legislation existing at the various
government levels (state, regional and local).
44
Executive Opinion Survey 2009, 2010
World Economic Forum
Description
Source
Indicator
The aim of gauging the transparency of government policies is to assess ease of access to
the relevant information. Greater legislative simplicity can thus be measured by the ease with
which the public can access and compare this information.
Spain’s position in terms of a surveybased assessment of the ease of
accessing information on changes in
government policies and legislation.
TURISMO
MINISTERIO
Y TURISMO
Destination Spain
Description
Objective
4
4.a
Improve the international position
Increase the weight of Spain’s interests in international decision-taking, based on two
mainstays:


Increasing tourism-related companies’ internationalisation capacity: tourism
firms and sector suppliers.
Establishing a representation of Spain’s tourism sector interests
in
supranational decision-taking spheres.
Trend in the number of subsidiaries and revenue
45
Indicator showing the number of
subsidiaries or branches of Spanish
hotel trade firms trading abroad and their
revenue volume.
Variation in the investments received by Spain from European funds
Proposal for drawing up the indicator
(Propuesta de elaboración)
Instituto de Estudios Turísticos (IET).
Description
Indicator designed to assess Spain’s participation in European initiatives on the basis of the
trend of funds captured for financing tourism-related measures.
Source
Indicator
4.b
Survey of the overseas subsidiaries of
Spanish firms (Estadística de Filiales de
Empresas Españolas en el Exterior).
Description
Source
Indicator
Study of the progression in the number of subsidiaries of firms in the hotel trade (CNAE-09
55 and 56) abroad and their revenue as an indicator of the internationalisation capacity of
tourism firms.
European funds received by Spain for
tourism investments.
TURISMO
MINISTERIO
Y TURISMO
5
Improve the cohesion and renown of the Spain brand
Description
Improve the ranking of Spain brand in long-standing markets and increase its renown in
newer markets, acting in a coordinated and cohesive fashion among all brand-building
stakeholders.
5.a
Spain’s position in the country brand ranking
FutureBrand.
Spain’s position in the tourism-related country brand ranking
Specific component of the tourism
attribute within the indicator drawn up
annually by FutureBrand, which analyses
and classifies the country brand of a total
of 110 countries.
Trend in the ranking of Spain’s tourism brand
MPG.
Brand tracking.
Description
This indicator shows the trend in the position of Spain’s tourism brand in its long-standing
markets and renown in newer markets.
Source
Indicator
Description
FutureBrand.
5.c
46
Indicator drawn up annually by
FutureBrand to analyse and classify the
country brand in a total of 110 countries.
Spain’s position in this ranking is limited to Spain’s renown from a tourism point of view
(comprising six attributes: attractions, hotels and resorts, cuisine, conviviality, shopping and
nightlife).
Source
Indicator
5.b
Description
The position of Spain brand in the annual study conducted by FutureBrand on the renown of
the Spain brand (based on tourist-perception of 5 variables: tourism, inheritance and culture,
business aptitude, quality of life and value system).
Source
Indicator
Objective
Destination Spain
Variation in the percentage renown of
Spain’s tourism brand in its longstanding markets and newer markets.
TURISMO
MINISTERIO
Y TURISMO
Destination Spain
Description
Objective
6
6.a
Favour public-private co-responsibility
Encourage participation and collaboration between the public and private sector in all
fields of tourism management.
Two lines of co-responsibility can be distinguished within this objective:


Private participation in tourism-policy decision-taking.
Financing of joint tourism promotion actions or services.
Degree of participation by private initiative in decision-taking procedures
6.b
(Propuesta de elaboración).
Description
Source
Indicator
Trend in the degree of participation by private initiative in the decision-taking procedures of
tourism-promotion organisations.
Percentage of participation by the private
sector in tourism-related decision-taking
bodies.
Index of private financing of promotion activities
47
(Propuesta de elaboración).
Description
Source
Indicator
This index assesses the trend in the level of private financing of national tourism promotion
initiatives as a key indicator of public-private collaboration.
Index of private financing (as a
percentage of total financing) of tourism
promotion activities launched by the
public authority.
TURISMO
MINISTERIO
Y TURISMO
7
Promote the deseasonalisation of tourism
Description
Increase the proportion of holiday makers travelling in the low and mid season to reduce
tourism’s seasonality.
7.a
Duration of the mid-high season of non-resident tourism
48
Minimum number of months accounting
for at least 80% of international tourism
expenditure in Spain.
Duration of the mid-high season of tourism of the Spanish
FAMILITUR (Spanish Domestic and
Outbound Tourism Survey)
Description
Indicator showing the duration of the mid season of national tourism of the Spanish,
understanding this to be the season concentrating at least 80% of total national tourism
expenditure.
Source
Indicator
7.b
EGATUR
Description
Indicator showing the duration of the mid season of non resident tourism, understanding this
to be the season concentrating at least 80% of total international tourism expenditure in
Spain.
Source
Indicator
Objective
Destination Spain
Minimum number of months accounting
for at least 80% of the tourism
expenditure of the Spanish in Spain.
TURISMO
MINISTERIO
Y TURISMO
Destination Spain
Description
A.c

Make further progress in the production, management and dissemination of knowledge.
Attract excellent talent for enhancing the sector’s entrepreneurship.
Bring training supply more closely into line with sector demands in higher education and
occupational training.
Spain’s position in relation to the comprehension of the annual travel and
transport figures
Description
World Tourism Organisation, WTO
Spain’s position in relation to other countries
in terms of ease of access to important and
trustworthy tourism information.
Business start-up time
Description
The World Bank (Doing Business 2010).
Number of days necessary on average for
starting a business complying with all
relevant legislation and without external help.
Sector entrepreneurship trend
This indicator studies the entrepreneurial level in terms of the number of newly registered workers in
the tourism sector in comparison to the whole Spanish productive fabric.
Source
Indicator


This gauges the business start-up time in terms of complying with legal and administrative requisites.
This variable is directly bound up with the government’s ability to speed up and increase the
entrepreneurial capacity of all sectors (including tourism).
Source
Indicator
A.b
49
Improve the tourism-sector human resources on the basis of three perspectives:
This indicator helps to monitor Spain’s trend in relation to other countries as regards access to and
comprehension of travel and tourism figures, a variable directly bound up with knowledge management
and bringing this knowledge to wider notice.
Source
Indicator
A.a
Boosting knowledge, entrepreneurship and training
Central company directory) Directorio
central de empresas
Description
Instruments
A
Number of newly registered workers in
activities most closely bound up with tourism
in comparison to all productive sectors.
TURISMO
MINISTERIO
Y TURISMO
Destination Spain
50
Spain’s position in relation to company investment in personnel training and
development
Executive Opinion Survey 2009, 2010
World Economic Forum
Description
This variable enables us to monitor Spain’s trend in comparison to other countries in terms of company
concern for the training and developing of their personnel. This indicator is directly bound up with the
training objective.
Source
Indicator
A.d
Spain’s position in comparison with other
countries in terms of company concern for
the training and career development of their
employees.
TURISMO
MINISTERIO
Y TURISMO
Destination Spain
51
Description
Instrumentos
B
Improve the tourism supply
Improve tourism supply in terms of entrepreneurial profitability and perception by the
tourist.
This instrument is measured by indicators of entrepreneurial profitability proposed for
the first objective. Other indicators of supply perception, drawn up by the Secretary of
State for Tourism (Secretaría de Estado de Turismo) through Turespaña, will also be
used.
TURISMO
MINISTERIO
Y TURISMO
C
Description
Annual trend in the number of countries representing 80% of non-resident
tourism expenditure
Description
EGATUR
Number
of
outbound
countries
representing at least 80% of the yearly
expenditure in Spain by non resident
tourists.
Annual trend in the percentage of seaside-resort seeking tourists among total
tourists
Indicator designed to gauge the degree of diversification in client reasons for travelling.
Source
Indicator
C.b
52
Broaden the client base and diversify outbound markets to offset the current
lopsidedness of Spain’s tourism supply.
Indicator designed to measure the degree of diversification in outbound markets adding up
to at least 80% of the total non-resident tourist expenditure in Spain in any one year.
Source
Indicator
C.a
Diversifying demand
EGATUR.
Description
Instrumentos
Destination Spain
Travelling reasons other than seaside
resorts as a share of total reasons.
M
EASURES
TURISMO
MINISTERIO
Y TURISMO
Measures
In this section the PNIT defines the package of measures13 that the Secretaría de Estado de
Turismo, through Turespaña, supports for achievement of the desired Destination Spain, on
the basis of the diagnosis made in the previous section, for each one of the pivotal factors.
An indication is given below of the 28 measures in their corresponding pivotal factor:
Strength
of the
Spain
 Coordinated development of the Spain brand
 Driving the Strategic Marketing Plan
 Permanent EU representation of Spain's tourism
interests
brand
Destination
Spain
Focus on clients
Destination
Spain
Destination
Spain
Supply-side and
destinations.
 Launching of the programme “Fidelización España”.
 Driving a campaign to stimulate national tourism
demand.
 Modulation of airport fees.
 Streamlining the tourism visa process.
 Support for the repositioning of mature destinations.
 Credit facilities for renewing tourism infrastructure.
 Support for Tourism Municipalities
 Smart destinations: innovation in destination
management.
 Networks of customer experience management
agencies.
 Standardisation of the rating and categorisation of
hotels, rural accommodation and campsites.
 Evolution of the Spanish Tourism Quality System.
 Bringing out the importance of Spain's cultural and
natural heritage, wine and cuisine.
 Encouragement of eco-friendly, sustainable tourism
13
The Plan measures will not mean a personnel cost increase for any of the centres affected.
Furthermore, the actions envisaged for regional and local authorities can be tackled without the need
for any additional financing.
55
TURISMO
MINISTERIO
Y TURISMO
Measures
Destination
Spain
Public-private
alignment.
Destination
Spain
 Analysis of the impact of all proposed legislation on the
tourism sector.
 Encouraging market unity.
 Amendment of tourism-affecting legislation
 Bringing the private sector into Turespaña's decisionmaking and financing processes
 Support for the internationalisation of Spain's tourism firms
 Single window for groundbreaking entrepreneurs and firms
 Drawing up the Turespaña Services Catalogue
 Reorganisation and modernisation of the Spanish
Diplomatic-Mission Tourism Departments Abroad
 Reorientation of national tourism statistics
Knowledge
Talent
and
entrepreneurship
Destination
Spain
56
 Credit facilities for young tourism entrepreneurs
 Programme of innovating tourism entrepreneurs
 Bringing training and research procedures into line with
business demand
MINISTERIO
Y TURISMO
TURISMO
Measures
Strength of the Spain brand
Coordinated development of the Spain brand
A country’s brand is a fundamental asset that plays a key role in its economic
relations and international policy. It is also a competitiveness factor that could
represent a high percentage of the total value of national economies.
Spain is one of the world’s biggest economies but its brand seems to be punching
below its weight in recent years. In the private sector many Spanish firms eschew the
Spain brand when undertaking their own internationalisation process. As a result the
brand is losing ground and forfeiting growth potential.
As for the public sector, the brand management strategy and coordination efforts
have been insufficient to date. Although there are some institutions that have been
developing the brand effectively, they do so in a piecemeal rather than across-theboard fashion: for example the Instituto Cervantes in the field of language and culture,
the Spanish Institute of Overseas Trade (Instituto Español de Comercio Exterior:
ICEX) in the field of company internationalisation and Turespaña for the promotion of
destination Spain.
Spain comes across as a convivial and authentic country but also whole-hearted; as
such it bends diverse virtues: an efficient country that is at the same time warm and
pleasant to live in. All these characteristics could benefit many business sectors but it
is the tourism sector that is capable of pooling and tapping into all the main attributes
of the Spain brand: the whole-hearted values like happiness, human warmth; cultural
and historical diversity; but also other more businesslike values like efficiency, quality
and modernity.
Spain’s tourism brand thus acts as a lever to improve the overall brand image, with a
particularly notable capacity to regenerate and reinforce the prestige and reputation of
the country brand, thus helping to generate confidence for investing in and setting up
trading relations with Spain.
In this current juncture, and given the need of building up assets to help companies
increase their competitiveness, it is crucial for there to be more coordination of the
stakeholders involved in the construction and promotion of the Spain brand, and for
tourism to be a key sector in this initiative.
Through this measure the PNIT aims to promote the objective of strengthening the
cohesion and renown of the Spain brand and also boost the sector’s profitability and
growth, working from the premise that a strong brand ensures bigger operating
margins.
57
MINISTERIO
Y TURISMO
TURISMO
Measures
The measure will be broken down into the following actions:

Concentration of the tourism publicity budget to increase the renown of
Spain brand and bring out its attributes in a particular way to suit each
outbound market.

Incorporation of the tourism perspective as a strategic sector in the
management initiatives of the Spain brand, such as the group “Spain
Brand” led by the Ministry of Overseas Affairs and Cooperation
(Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores y de Cooperación).

Presence of Turespaña in the competent bodies for the planning of
cultural actions abroad and lining up the attributes of the Spain brand.

Development of a joint strategy with ICEX for seeking out synergies in
the hybridisation of tourism with other sectors (agrofood, kitchenware,
accommodation- and restaurant-furniture, etc.) to benefit from any
action taken by Turespaña in aspects such as promotion.
Promotion of the Strategic Marketing Plan
Until 2012 Turespaña lacked any multi-year Strategic Marketing Plan, so all its
promotion activities were taken more or less on an ad hoc, tactical basis. With its new
marketing strategy, Turespaña now has a methodology developed jointly with the
private sector, the regional authorities (Comunidades Autónomas) and recognised
marketing experts, enabling it to prioritise investments by markets and, within these,
by products and segments.
Despite this solid methodology, however, there is still a dearth of cross-checkable
information on the demand for trips from the various outbound countries. This would
enable us not only to prioritise the abovementioned factors in the conviction that the
underpinning analysis is correct but also ensure that the various target segments
stand out in their own right in each priority market.
To obtain proper knowledge to back up tactical decisions and strategies, an
“Omnibus” research study will periodically be drawn up with the general aim of
obtaining trustworthy results from a representative sample of tourism demand in 25
outbound markets. This research will be designed with a dual strategic interest:
ascertaining which are the priority products for each market and breaking down
tourists in terms of reasons for travelling. This will serve as a thoroughgoing base for
58
MINISTERIO
Y TURISMO
TURISMO
Measures
underpinning any market-prioritisation decisions, reallocation of resources or other
decisions in the future strategic plan.
With this measure the Secretaría de Estado de Turismo, through Turespaña, aims to
allocate resources to tourism promotion in a more effective and efficient way, also
harnessing the new information technologies as necessary. The overall aim in all this
will be to set the country apart from its competitors and thus enable it to capture new
markets and segments, stressing, among other aspects, the accessibility and
affordability of Spain’s tourism destinations. There will also be promotion of tourism
products to diversify Spain’s tourism: cultural, urban, internal, rural, enogastronomic,
cruises, MICE, sailing, family-friendly tourism, etc.
Actions taken to promote Turespaña’s Strategic Marketing Plan are the following:
59

Draw up a draft Strategic Marketing Plan for each market type (North
America, Ibero-America, Asia-Pacific, Northern Europe, Central Europe,
Eastern Europe, Southern Europe and the Middle East) based on a
thoroughgoing demand study.

Define the priorities in terms of different positions and products in each
market type for the next four years, specifying a plan of annual tactical
activities.

Creation of an executive working group for giving advice on annual tactical
approaches applicable to each outbound market, in collaboration with the
regional authorities. In the first phase this group will be set up in the Round
Table of General Directors (Mesa de Directores Generales) and will enrich
the decision-taking of Turespaña’s management in the following aspects:
o
Consultancy and advice in the operational approach of Turespaña’s
marketing activity: selection of tools, prioritisation of products and
markets, formulation of the competitive position of Spain brand in
each market, etc.
o
Consultancy and monitoring of Turespaña’s marketing plans by
regions or zones and annual market research plan, to be carried out
by IET.
o
Approval of the creation of advisory committees on specific matters.
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Permanent EU representation of Spain’s tourism interests
The development of the tourism sector has historically played second fiddle within the
policies and actions of the European Union. In recent years, however, its position has
been significantly upgraded after ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon in December
2009, enshrining tourism too as a community policy.
Moreover, the Spanish EU presidency in the first half year of 2010 worked busily in
this direction too, calling an informal ministerial meeting that spawned the “Madrid
Declaration”. This document then served as the basis for the tourism-related
Communication by the European Commission entitled “Europe, the world's No 1
tourist destination – a new political framework for tourism in Europe”, which sets out
21 actions or specific projects to be implemented for constructing and consolidating
its European policy.
The headway made by the tourism sector within the European field of decision-taking
calls for continued monitoring by the Secretaría de Estado de Turismo of all these
changes and particularly the affairs that directly or indirectly affect Spain’s tourism
interests, such as defence of Spain’s accessibility by air or road, among others.
The functions to be carried out in this direction will be the following:
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Coverage of participation in all the working groups created by the EU
Competitiveness Council and tourism-related councils set up by the
Commission.

Liaison with the European Travel Commission, the organisation that the
European Commission wishes to convert into the agency for promoting
Europe as a tourism destination in distant outbound markets.

Become a permanent information and consultancy point for Spanish
tourism firms participating in the continually increasing number of tenders
held by the European Commission, to ensure that the bidding firms are in
the best possible position each time for winning the contract in question.
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Focus on clients
Launching of the programme
(Customer Loyalty Programme)
“Fidelización
España”
There is a high rate of repetition among clients choosing Spain as a destination. In
the case of British and German tourists this rate tops 70%. Any company that boasted
this repetition rate would probably invest in a customer loyalty programme since the
commercial or promotion cost of encouraging customer loyalty of existing tourists is
less than capturing new ones.
If this idea is broached from the viewpoint of the desired vision of Destination Spain,
the creation of a customer loyalty programme would be a groundbreaking initiative in
relation to other competing countries and would have numerous applications and
knock-on benefits taking in not only companies of the tourism sector but also other
Spanish firms. The customer loyalty programme could also be applied in a more
particular form to the host of same-day trippers who visit us assiduously from crossborder countries.
In the framework of the PNIT, the Secretaría de Estado de Turismo, through
Turespaña, will develop a customer loyalty programme for the outbound tourism
markets of the United Kingdom and Germany with the objective of generating
repetition incentives, broadening the tourist’s trip horizons, offering possibilities and
products of superior quality by means of an individualised points programme.
The target groups of this programme will be made up by tourists living in Germany or
the United Kingdom who travel to Spain, for whatever reason and whichever type of
trip they make. The customer loyalty service, however, will be open to all natural
persons of any nationality.
The multi-sponsor customer loyalty system (sistema de fidelización multipatrocinador)
will be carried out by way of customer loyalty cards (hard copy and online), for which
Spanish firms belonging to all fields of tourism demand will be eligible. This includes
directly trip-related firms such as hotels, travel agents, airline companies, etc and also
other demand sectors such as supermarkets, department stores, shopping malls and
key services such as telephony and healthcare, among others. Other tourism
promotion firms in Spanish destinations of a public or public-private character will also
be entitled to opt in, such as tourism boards, regional tourism agencies and others of
a cultural character such as museums, theatres, cultural centres, etc.
Associated companies in the United Kingdom and Germany bearing a close relation
with Spain will also be embraced by the programme, such as distributors of Spanish
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wine, tour operators, travel agents or companies of majority Spanish capital or those
generating high expenditure in Spain.
This system will work in terms of a card points-accumulation system based on
purchases made in any of the establishments associated with the points programme.
These points can then be exchanged for products or services in Spain or for Spanish
products in their home countries.
Promoting a campaign to stimulate national tourism demand
In its annual FAMILITUR (Spanish Domestic and Outbound Tourism Survey) report
the Instituto de Estudios Turísticos shows the tourism trends of Spanish travellers and
holiday makers. This survey reveals a fall in national tourism (Spanish people
spending their holiday in Spain), in relation to outbound tourism from Spain (Spanish
people spending their holiday abroad). (IET, 2011)
Year
Year-on variation in national
tourism in relation to total
tourism
Year-on variation in outbound
tourism in relation to total tourism
2009
-0.58%
+8.10%
2010
-0.66%
+8.49%
2011
-0.51%
+5.98%
There is therefore a demand from the tourism sector itself for the Secretaría de
Estado de Turismo to coordinate the promotion of Spanish destinations at national
level, since there is no other government body with the powers to do so.
This set of factors makes it particularly necessary to design a measure to encourage
the participation of all involved sectors, both public and private (tourist and nontourist).
It is for this reason that the main objective of this measure is to carry out, for the first
time ever, a national tourism campaign to convince Spanish tourists to take their
holidays at home.
The promotion actions will concentrate on the holiday periods of summer and
Christmas to try to convince as many people as possible to spend their holidays in a
Spanish destination.
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An account is given below of the set of national tourism campaign activities bound up
with this measure:

First and foremost partners will be captured to offer institutional and
economic support for launching the communication campaign: regional
authorities, local authorities, business associations, major tourism firms, the
media, etc. There are different ways of participating as a partner within the
campaign:
o
Membership of the campaign programme by helping to
communicate it in their establishments and taking on the
commitment of providing top-quality services.
o
Financing the development of advertising ideas and purchase of
media slots (financial input) or making their own outlets available for
the campaign: newsletters, publicity spaces, etc.

An important aspect of the campaign will be the capturing of public figures
or ambassadors to collaborate in the communication.

The communication campaign will be three phase:
o
o
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Publicity campaign. In this endeavour public-private collaboration
will be encouraged in various ways:

Production of advertising ideas: companies would directly
defray their participation to the company selected for the
campaign.

Purchase of media slots: drawing up a media plan in which
each firm would directly defray their participation to the
media concerned.

Assignment of spaces: planning the assignment of spaces
(e.g. advertising hoardings of local councils, travel agencies,
etc.).
Public relations campaign. Presentation of the project to the diverse
media for them to publicise it further afield.
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o

Campaign in social networking sites: the aim of the publicity
campaign and use of social networking sites will be to increase the
participation of Spanish tourists, encouraging them to recount their
experiences and thereby generating content for promotion abroad.
Awareness-raising campaign: communication in specialised media, posters
in work centres, letters, etc. explaining the importance of the quality service
for the client in terms of encouraging loyalty.
Modulation of airport fees
In the stock-taking section of this desired vision for Destination Spain mention was
made of a series of factors that make Spain’s tourism model particularly seasonal.
This seasonality means a lower use of infrastructure, both public and private, and
also a quicker personnel turnover and lower employment quality, with negative
impacts on the service quality perceived by the tourist and on the life of the workers
involved.
Not all of the abovementioned factors can be reduced or removed, but it is
nonetheless essential to take any action that might lessen or offset the negative
effects of Spanish tourism’s seasonality. This plan therefore proposes the policy of
reducing airport fees for off-season days in airports of the Canary islands and during
the winter months in airports of the Balearic isles.
Air traffic is a transverse activity impinging on many other subsectors, so the shortterm objectives, both direct and indirect, are the following:
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Favour the deseasonalisation of Spain’s tourism demand by increasing the
duration of the mid season, offsetting the aforementioned negative effects.

Increase the total demand of air travellers throughout the calendar year.
The overall increase of this demand should be channelled in the mid
season periods and in the increase of city-breaks.

Generate stable employment both in airport facilities and, above all, in the
companies of the tourism destinations in the hinterland of the various
airport facilities.

Reduce the social and environmental impact of the traveller flow peaks and
favour the continual use of tourism infrastructure and services throughout
the whole year, not only in holiday periods, thereby fomenting the
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sustainability of the tourism model and a more efficient use of resources.
The upshot will be a saving in operating costs. Furthermore, a more
uniform distribution of flights over time would reduce acoustic pollution and,
above all, the build-up of CO2 in the lower levels of the atmosphere; this
tends to be a bigger problem in the summer, coinciding with the highest
traffic peaks.
A working group will be set up to run this measure, with the participation of the
ministries of Public Works (Fomento), Finance and Liaison between Government
Levels (Hacienda y Administraciones públicas) and Industry, Energy and Tourism
(Industria, Energía y Turismo). This working group will analyse the current private
pricing models, public financial contributions, the management of fees applicable to
the right to use airport services and facilities (Aena Aeropuertos S.A) and the right to
use air-navigation services and facilities (AENA) to analyse the variability of fees,
taking into account such factors as the time of year, the time of day or even the day of
the week and others, all of which impinge on the private prices charged: noise
surcharge, airport classification in groups by volume of air traffic and incorporation of
green taxes.
The conclusions drawn by this working group should enable control policies to be
carried out as well as a predictive model for fees and demand trend, assuming at all
times a knock-on effect on the prices charged by airline operators, with a concomitant
off-season reduction.
New air routes will also be encouraged under the existing convention between Aena
Aeropuertos and Turespaña.
Streamlining the tourism visa process
In recent years there has been a growth in the number of tourism visa applications by
emerging markets. The emerging markets with tourism importance for Spain include
Russia, Ukraine, China, Turkey and India.
These countries have a very notable future growth capacity due, among other factors,
to their upward economic trend and the consolidation or growth of social classes who
can now afford tourism travel. Together with the increase in air connections and a
stepping up of promotion activity by Turespaña and other regional-government and
private organisations, this has spawned a steady growth in the demand from these
countries for trips to Spain with a corresponding increase in the number of visa
applications.
The table below shows the number of visas issued in the last 4 years and the growth
forecast for 2012 (Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores y de Cooperación, 2011) of the
main emerging markets:
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Country
Russia
Ukraine
China
India
Turkey
2008
344,613
22,207
23,775
12,690
21,266
2009
292,428
16,958
25,245
16,160
19,476
2010
513,479
32,115
30,997
17,306
27,638
2011
978,553
75,003
69,450
38,558
40,649
+20/25%
+30/40%
+20/30%
+30%
+30%
Year
14
2012
This increase has been fuelled by a government reinforcement of visa management.
A key factor in encouraging a steady growth in these markets is action to solve the
consular service problem: personnel saturation and little leeway for dealing with peak
visa processing needs.
To improve this situation this plan proposes a set of actions to streamline the tourism
visa processing service by establishing swifter, more flexible, economical and secure
methods of tourist access to Spain. These would reduce the consular bottleneck,
improve the image of Spain’s bureaucracy among outbound markets and cut labour,
administrative and economic costs in consular offices.
In pursuit of these objectives actions will be developed in cooperation with the
Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores y Cooperación (MAEC); these can be broken down
into three lines of action: reinforcement, cooperation and development.
14
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Rearranging the visa processing personnel:
o
The necessary negotiations will be carried out to optimise the global
outsourcing contract, system-possibilities permitting, in the management of
visa applications.

Cooperation with tour operators:
o
To bring resource allocation into line with demand a key aspect will be
forecasting the degree of seasonality in traveller flows. Liaison will
therefore be stepped up between local tourism operators and agents, the
Regional Diplomatic-Mission Tourism Departments (Consejerías de
Visa increase forecast in 2012
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Turismo) and consulates to ensure proper planning of workloads, thereby
balancing resources to suit demand.
o
Consensus will also be sought in the simplification of procedures and
reduction of time in processing applications, doing so by adopting common
and reasonable criteria by stakeholders.
o
An effort will also be made to define and establish other outlets and
procedures of preferential attention for consolidated operators and
agencies and also basic visa-management training for travel agents and
local operators.

The visa processing policy:
o
Action here will aim to encourage and extend more flexible visa
arrangements in terms of validity period and multiple entries, for example,
visas issued to businessmen from countries recording a growing exchange
of visits, such as Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, China, India and the United Arab
Emirates; fomenting the joint visa policy of the EU Commission, with
special reference to the possibility of eliminating the reciprocal visa
requirement between the Russian Federation and the EU.
Lastly, as well as these actions, activity will also be stepped up within the visa
management working group, made up by representatives of the MAEC, business
associations and Turespaña. This will now meet up on an ordinary basis quarterly
and, extraordinarily, whenever sought by any of the parties to deal with emergency
situations. There will also be a collaborative work platform: private information
exchange area.
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Supply-side and Destinations
Support for the repositioning of mature destinations
Within a general context of maturity in the life-cycle of the central product of Spain’s
tourism supply, many destinations, historic drivers of Spain’s tourism growth, are now
confronting a systemic problem. Certain mature destinations have now entered a
vicious circle of growing price competition with destinations that have a lower cost
structure. This prevents them from keeping sales prices at realistic levels, eating
away at profit margins, discouraging ploughback investment and bringing down the
level of perceived quality. This in turn reduces the willingness to pay of potential
travellers and increases the pressure on prices. The upshot of this vicious circle is a
steady deterioration of the destination and a continual drain of competitiveness.
The origin of the vicious circle is not in itself the physical deterioration of the supply
but rather the absence of any competitive standout position to suit the actual trip
demand. The commoditisation of the product is the reason for the huge price-demand
elasticity.
That said, the current context of physical deterioration of the resorts is preventing
hotels from passing on improvement costs into prices, since the average daily rate
(ADR) of any destination determines the hotel’s ADR. This means that any initiative to
reverse this situation would have to be across the board and all-in, as well as fitting in
with a standout competitive position.
The Secretaría de Estado de Turismo considers that the real and integral
transformation of any destination would call for a considerable boost to the private
sector, in aspects requiring a significant critical mass of private investment. Take the
example of the so-called 4th generation resorts, veritable destinations within the
destination, with a high concentration in certain target groups and giving a strong
theme to the travelling experience.
Government authorities at each level (central, regional and local) would all have to
drive this effort within their own remits: falling into line with the strategy of investment
in private initiative, encouraging town- and country-planning procedures that favour
these initiatives, financing public infrastructure that tops up private investment and
establishing a framework that allows for new, transformation-favouring business
models.
The Secretaría de Estado de Turismo, through Turespaña, within its remit, will focus
on laying down the bases to favour new products in line with the transformation of
mature destinations. Special mention among these new products must go to those
related to preventive healthcare. As pointed out in the stock-taking part of this plan,
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one of the keys to the long-term cycle we are now entering will be healthcare
innovations, especially in preventive healthcare. Ageing of the baby-boom generation
in Spain’s main outbound markets, together with the need for health services, the
high cost of these services in those countries and the ideal patient-rehabilitation
conditions, now constitute an opportunity that needs to be harnessed. In terms of the
transformation of mature destinations this is an expanding market of high purchasing
power that now needs to rearranged and brought into line with the current supply, but
which can exploit the traditional attributes of these destinations (climate, beaches,
attention, etc.) as an added value. Moreover, this demand is much less seasonal than
traditional seaside-resort tourism.
This measure is geared towards developing more favourable conditions for
generating a new business base in mature destinations, cutting out red tape, bringing
out the common elements that favour the creation of authentic “clusters” of supply
and furnishing private initiative with the market intelligence for identifying segments,
value-generating ideas, business opportunities and competitive threats.
This measure eschews mere town-planning action, which has characterised the
approach to this problem in the past. As we have already pointed out, this approach
does not tackle the cause of the problem but only one of its symptoms.
The Secretaría de Estado de Turismo, through Turespaña, will put all its knowledge
and liaison capacity behind this measure, doing so in the following aspects:
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
Identification of business opportunities that involve distinctive value-generating
ideas of relevance to specific demand sectors of international trip demand.

Organisation of periodic meetings for dealing with business opportunities with
potential investors, businessmen and local authorities.

Transformation of current structures (consortia) in public-private liaison
platforms for drawing up development proposals and swifter arrangements for
dealing with any permits and licences that might be needed.

Definition of the strategy to promote the created products with the objective of
positioning them at international level and drawing up a roadmap of the
initiatives to be carried out.

Support for definition of service standards for the products to be developed.
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Encouragement of the necessary conditions for the intermediation market to
work online for generating a combined supply, in due accordance with the
findings in the measure to boost tourism-experience managers.

Carrying out demand studies and support for contact with aggregators through
the OET network.

Support with actions of promotion to create a single point of reference of
supply vis-à-vis the external market.

Encourage the conversion into Smart destinations (measure proposed within
this Plan).

Financing through the State Financial Fund for Modernisation of Tourism
Infrastructure (Fondo Financiero del Estado para la Modernización de las
Infraestructuras Turísticas: FOMIT) of, among others, the creation of open
spaces in mature destinations.
Credit facilities for renewing tourism infrastructure
From 2009 to 2011 the national government implemented diverse plans to finance
infrastructure investments that involved improvements in environmental sustainability,
especially those geared towards energy efficiency, water- and energy-saving and,
lastly, the implementation of new technologies.
Two factors tended to undermine these plans. The first of these was the limitation of
subsidisable investments to those involving environmental and technological
advances, excluding some financing projects. The second factor was the trimming of
interest-rate rebates down to market rates to prevent the state from taking on an
excessive financial load and thereby increasing public debt.
The need to work in the aforementioned framework of financial restriction prompted a
redefining of the former plans, replacing them with new credit facilities for tourism
firms. These would offer financing at arms length rates but removing the limitation of
subsidisable investments to those involving technological or environmental
improvements. This new approach makes all tourism infrastructure eligible for
financing of renewal activities, increases the demand pool and avoids the non-takeup
of renewal funds as happened in previous years.
The main objective of this measure is progressive renewal of Spain’s tourism
infrastructure to improve energy efficiency, incorporate technology and improve
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accessibility of groups with special needs, among others, and also to generate jobs,
direct and indirect, in the tourism sector and other related sectors.
The main beneficiaries of the measure are tourism firms, especially SMEs; the
amount of each renewal project will be capped to ensure that financing is not granted
only to the projects of major firms.
The measure will be implemented by way of agreements between the Secretaría de
Estado de Turismo and public credit institutions (Instituto de Crédito Oficial, ICO)
which will manage the facility jointly with banks. The Secretaría de Estado de
Turismo, through the State Corporation for Management of Tourism Technologies
and Innovation (Sociedad Estatal para la Gestión de la Innovación y las Tecnologías
Turísticas: SEGITTUR), will see to the provision of funds and the distribution of the
facility among the firms.
Support for Tourism Municipalities
Historically, Spanish tourism development has centred on seaside-resort tourism in
certain municipalities and at certain times of the year. This leads to a specific problem
in the sustainability of destinations, deriving from facility- and service-overload of said
municipalities in the high season.
Tourism demand is becoming increasingly selective and choosy. Tourists can now
choose each year from several alternatives; price elasticity is high, and resorts are
rated not only by the directly contracted private services (transport, hotel,
restaurant…) but also by other components that also impinge on the tourism
experience (cleanliness, quality of infrastructure and facilities, security and safety,
information, healthcare, beaches, cultural heritage and cuisine …) but which do not
enter in the price of the package bought from the marketing firm. To sum it up in one
sentence: a 4-star hotel has to be set in a 4-star environment.
The sustainability of tourism destinations has to be assured first and foremost from
the planning viewpoint. To this end an instrument or method will be implemented,
based on Agenda 21 of sustainable tourism designed by the European Union, to help
the planners of local authorities find out the current situation of their tourism
development model, apply monitoring indicators and design sustainable tourism
action plans including activities to bring these attributes to wider notice.
Agenda 21 of sustainable tourism for local authorities pinpoints the variables or
attributes that affect a destination’s sustainability (from a threefold environmental,
economic and social point of view). As such it can be used for inferring the variables
to be used for creating a “status of sustainable tourism municipality”. These can then
be used as the basis for applying a new model of tourism management and
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organisation to facilitate the development and economic growth of these
municipalities.
A crucial factor here will be the participation and support of other government levels.
Collaboration formulae will therefore be established by all other government levels to
support these tourism local authorities, in accordance with their own particular
features. The Secretaría de Estado de Turismo, for its part, will support this new
status with specific actions:
 Promotion and communication of the attributes of sustainable tourism
municipalities in international markets.
 Establishment of objective criteria for assessing the “status of tourism
municipality” by IET in coordination with the INE as the organisation
proposing the indicators, both direct (number of visitors, overnight stays in
hotels, etc.) and indirect (for example those related with energy and water
consumption).
The current concern for sustainability, which could be almost written off as a
adornment in destination strategy only a few short years ago, is now becoming an
increasingly important factor in determining purchase or rejection by tourists in most
of Spain’s outbound markets. Any destination that fails to take these issues on board
and/or is not perceived as sustainable, will not be eligible for consideration as a
leading destination in the future.
Smart destinations: innovation in destination management
The need of offering tourists distinctive, highly competitive services obliges the
national tourism system to seek new innovation-boosting mechanisms. In this context
both knowledge and new technologies, especially information and communication
technologies (ICTs), are the basis for the value-inputting market changes.
Nonetheless, there are certain difficulties hindering the full deployment of all the
tourism sector’s innovation potential. Although the intermediation subsector has a
high ICT takeup, this is not generally true for tourism services as a whole.
This measure therefore aims to establish the necessary mechanisms for rapid
incorporation of innovations, defining a uniform framework for increasing the technical
skills of tourism destinations under the concept of Smart destinations, in line with the
trend of creating Smart Cities.
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The Sociedad Estatal para la Gestión de la Innovación y las Tecnologías Turísticas,
SEGITTUR, will establish the methodology covering all the bases and minimum
requisites to be met by a tourism destination to qualify as a “Smart destination”.
This qualification will serve as the basis for improving destination-management quality
and sustainability on the strength of efficient incorporation of ICTs into the services.
The direct recipients will be the tourism destination managers, especially those of
mature destinations. These will be provided with the necessary qualification and
implementation tools to be eligible for distinction as Smart destinations.
The methodology will be defined in collaboration with prestigious Spanish universities,
business schools and research institutions with past or current research experience in
projects of this type. It also includes other types of public and private organisations
capable of inputting technological solutions bound up with economic development,
mobility, the environment, tourism services, etc.
This experience, unique at European level, will enable Spain to lead a process of
integral application of innovation in tourism destinations. This will endow Spain with
greater visibility and boost its ranking as a worldwide tourism destination.
The Smart destinations project involves a whole series of implementation actions:
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
Firstly, a base document will be drawn up defining what it means to be a
Smart destination and the minimum eligibility requisites.

On the basis of these requisites a specific definition will be made of how to
qualify as a Smart destination.

Once these eligibility requisites have been established, work will begin on
pilot qualification projects. These will be set up preferably in mature
destinations currently under conversion and in those that express an
interest.

To finance this qualification process the investment-project assessment
criteria of the Fondo Financiero del Estado para la Modernización de las
Infraestructuras Turísticas (FOMIT) will include the financing category of
“measures conducive to the takeup of new tourism management
technologies in mature destinations”.

A definition will be made of a new model of tourism information office in
destinations, facilitating their standardisation and implementation by the
regional authorities and localities: the "C21st Tourism Office". This office
will not only facilitate information on the destination and promote it but also
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help in its marketing, breaking down the local product to suit visitor
preferences. It will be a groundbreaking space serving as a benchmark
meeting point between the area concerned and visitors, using new
technologies and cutting-edge applications for this purpose. This project,
with a major technological, multicultural and multilingual component, will
allow visitors to interact with the tourism destination and other less known
destinations nearby. It will also allow the destination to cull and analyse a
host of tourist information on the site.

The project will contribute towards coordination and technology transfer
between regional authorities, resulting in the optimisation and
rationalisation of economic resources of each one and improved
competitiveness of all destinations. To do so SEGITTUR will create a
technological platform allowing the regional authorities to swap information,
good practices, knowledge, technological developments and tourism
products. This platform will be set up as a collaborative area for joint
implementation of groundbreaking projects in the ongoing endeavour of
improving the competitiveness and tourism sustainability of its regional
authorities.
Networks of customer experience management agencies
The marketing of package tours has typically involved watertight service groupings:
transport (plane and train), transfer and hotel room. Service groupings of this type,
carried out by tour operators, are hardly likely to bring out the crucial, standout
difference of the tourism destination. The current trend in tourism marketing is
towards a conception of the tourism product as an amalgam of different services to
meet an experience demanded by the customer.
The challenge of getting across experience-related tourism products to tourists is
especially stiff in tourism outside the traditional seaside type. Internal tourism, greatly
affected by its concentration in national demand, can be reoriented towards European
markets if the supply is shaped and conceived to bring out the unique nature of its
particular experience.
For this trend to be generalised throughout Spain, it is necessary to surmount certain
hurdles:
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
The destination’s real standout features often do not tally with the service
characteristics as reflected in traditional package tours: they are not
homogenous features and cannot be pooled into a critical mass so they
lack interest for tour operators.

Business participation in product generation in destinations does not run
the whole gamut of experiences that might be marketed. Though such
products as golf or sailing do feature prominently, there is a huge growth
leeway for other experiences.
There is an opportunity here for the private sector to cover this activity and bring
these experiences to the international marketing outlets, inputting more value than by
mere intermediation alone.
Key features in this new approach are entrepreneurship, the new business
management disciplines, the technological capacity of integration in marketing
networks, advanced knowledge of demand for experiences of this type and the
support of promotion under the Spain brand umbrella.
Under this plan a measure will be designed to encourage the development of bases
for the creation of a network of “Destination-based tourist experience management
agencies” to foment the management of standout products and tourism activities with
a more experience-based approach in line with the product guidelines being defined
in the Turespaña-led Strategic Marketing Plan.
To generate these bases the Secretaría de Estado de Turismo will furnish this
programme with a series of aid packages and functions both for companies and for
entrepreneurs that wish to move into this business. To this end the following actions
will be determined:
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SEGITTUR will give priority to those proposals related to this business
activity and involving young entrepreneurs financed under the agreement
with ENISA (Empresa Nacional de Innovación, S.A.), mentioned further on
in this PNIT.
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Encouragement of agreements with different national and international
business schools to propose the programme to postgraduate students, with
the aim of bringing excellent entrepreneurial talent into the fold. The
Turespaña Tourism Experience Award (Premio Experiencia Turística
Turespaña) will be promoted.

Implementation of an entrepreneur mentoring programme in liaison with
businessmen of acknowledged experience in entrepreneurship.
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Definition of a technological framework in line with European initiatives
currently underway to increase interoperability in the standout supply and
access to the main marketing channels.
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Development of a specific supply within Turespaña’s Service Catalogue
(Catálogo de Servicios) for this type of experience management firms.
Entrepreneurs who have opted into the programme will be given
preferential access to OET-brokered information on the outbound markets
and contact services with intermediaries to be provided in this Service
Catalogue.

Support, through Turespaña’s promotion and publicising activities, with
participation in specific tradefairs organised for firms of this type. The
product generated by the customer experience management agencies will
also be backed up by Turespaña’s online promotion services.

Development of a new function and creation of new profiles in Turespaña’s
organisation: product managers. The purpose of these professional profiles
will be support of international promotion, under the Spain brand umbrella,
of the products managed by these agency networks.

Proposal of grants for entrepreneurs that have opted into the programme,
work experience in destination management organisations in line with the
business’s target experience.
Standardisation of the rating and categorisation of hotels,
rural accommodation and campsites
In Spain it is the remit of the regional authorities to legislate the necessary rating of
hotels, rural accommodation and campsites. Many of the current rating models
concentrate on structural elements, leaving aside service-related aspects or other
singular features valued by the client. This diversity is a hindrance both for tourists
and the subsector of hotels, rural accommodation and campsites.
In February 2010 concern about this lack of uniformity prompted the Spanish Tourism
Board (Consejo Español de Turismo: CONESTUR) to set up a hotel standardisation
working group within the Executive Committee, to seek a solution to the hotel rating
problem by analysing legislation at Spanish regional level and the main European
models. This hotel-standardisation working group has defined the problem posed by
the differences between the hotel regulations of the regional authorities and suggests
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the adoption of a hotel rating system similar to “HotelStars”, which has now been
taken up by some European countries.
This system awards points on the basis of 270 criteria, some mandatory and others
optional, and lays down a fixed number of points for each one of various hotel
categories. It represents a change of philosophy in comparison to the traditional hotel
rating system, based on quantitative criteria, taking in such aspects as quality
management, cleanliness and comfort of the facilities.
In the case of rural accommodation and tourism campsites, there is an even greater
dispersion of classification according to the standards of the regional authorities.
Neither is there any consensus on a rating system allowing for the specific features of
this sector.
In light of all these factors this aspect has been dealt with in the PNIT. The overall aim
in doing so is to encourage the adoption of uniform hotel-, rural-accommodation- and
campsite-rating systems by the various regional authorities.
The following measures will therefore be taken for each one of these subsectors:

Hotel rating: given that there is now a certain consensus about the rating
system to be adopted, the recommendation will be for this system to be
taken up by the regional authorities in the Round Table of the General
Directors of the Sector-Based Conference.

Categorisation and rating of rural accommodation and campsites: a
working group will be set up in the Round Table of General Directors for
defining a common rating system incorporating the singular features of
establishments of this type, which can then be taken up by the various
regional authorities.
Evolution of the Spanish Tourism Quality System
Spain vies with some emerging destinations to attract tourists from the outbound
countries. The main advantage these emerging countries hold over Spain is the price.
This price disadvantage has prompted Spain to try to stand out from the rest in terms
of quality instead, taking such measures as setting up the Spanish Tourism Quality
System (Sistema de Calidad Turístico Español; hereinafter SCTE), initially developed
by the central government and by now fully established.
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Its main aim is to endow tourism destinations and firms with tried and tested internal
management instruments that help to cut costs and improve the price-quality ratio of
the goods and services they offer to their clients. These improvements will ultimately
help to firm up the companies’ financial sustainability and increase client loyalty.
There are currently five programmes within SCTE for tackling various lines of action
that impinge on standout quality aspects: SCTE Good practices, SCTE Destinations
or Integral Destination-Based Quality System (SICTED), SCTE Sectors or brand “Q
for Tourism Quality”, SCTE Hosts and SCTE International.
These SCTE quality systems and programmes play a crucial role, bringing out the
quality of Spain’s tourism sector by means of training and awareness-raising of
stakeholders, whether in the public or private sector, but they now need to be adapted
to the current circumstances of the sector to make Spain an international benchmark
of quality tourism.
Recent Turespaña-financed studies of brand weighting in the choice of the tourism
destination Spain show only a moderate acknowledgement of the quality of
accommodation and infrastructure by tourists that have visited Spain and above all
those who have not yet done so. This suggests a problem in the perception of quality.
These findings have prompted the Secretaría de Estado de Turismo, through
Turespaña, to pose new challenges for the evolution and development of the SCTE in
line with new tourism trends and the current market situation.
The objectives aim to bring tourism entrepreneurs centre stage within the SCTE,
encouraging stakeholders themselves to decide how to implement and develop these
quality methodologies on the basis of co-responsibility.
This involves the following activities:
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Turespaña will collaborate with the stakeholders and managing organisations
of SCTE to attract a greater number of entrepreneurs interested in applying
methodologies of this type in their internal productive processes.

A specific package of services will be defined for companies that have
obtained quality certification in Turespaña’s Marketing Services Catalogue.
These services could be, among others: publication of a guide of certified
establishments, accessible through the website spain.info; promotion of
certified destinations on the tourism publicity websites of the state and the
corresponding regional authority; use of certified establishments in campaigns
of social networking sites: prizes with overseas stays, blog contents, games,
etc.; preferential ranking in searches made in the domain Spain.info; creation
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of a hot-side of certified companies accessible through newsletters issued
from the OET network.
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Notwithstanding the above, Turespaña will be able to work towards the
groupings of companies and establishments accredited with SCTE emblems,
establishing for that purpose joint international promotion agreements
stressing the certified quality attribute.

Turespaña will conduct studies in collaboration with the main tour operators to
identify which specific quality improvements in the establishments will be
conducive to an increase in perceived quality by the client, whereby they could
become specific attributes of the brand. This knowledge will be passed on to
the managers of the SCTE programmes to bring it to wider notice in
companies.
Bringing out the importance of Spain's cultural and natural
heritage, wine and cuisine
Spain boasts a rich cultural, natural and enogastronomic heritage. This can play an
important part in setting its tourism apart from the rest and also favours geographical
diversification and breaking into new markets.
Although this is a prerequisite for meeting the diversification objective, bringing out its
tourism value is crucial for turning it into a competitiveness factor.
Despite possessing all these resources, Spain’s supply is for various reasons badly
positioned in international markets, so it is essential to carry out activities to boost the
demand for this type of tourism in Spain.
The tangible and intangible heritage is for the most part managed by government
authorities, so this will be the main target of PNIT action. To this end the Secretaría
de Estado de Turismo, through Turespaña, will provide public heritage managers with
its knowledge and liaison capacity to increase their tourism attractiveness, improve
tourism management, collaborate with the private tourism sector and boost its
financial sustainability by attracting more tourists.
Under this plan various activities will be carried out with the overriding aim of
attracting potential tourists by means of active promotion throughout the year, placing
special stress on the holiday periods of outbound markets that do not coincide with
Spain’s.
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Harnessing the cultural heritage
To this end, in cooperation with regional authorities, the Presidency Ministry
(Ministerio de la Presidencia) (Patrimonio Nacional [National Trust]) and the Ministry
of Education, Culture and Sport (Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte), diverse
activities will be carried out to promote cultural tourism. Timetables will include
musical events, singular exhibitions and other activities that do not depend solely or
mainly on the underlying heritage but rather reflect the vitality of the arts in today’s
Spain. To improve this promotion a package of activities will be developed for
integration of the cultural heritage, in which the various organisations work online,
broken down by segments, in due accordance with a single nationwide protocol in the
following areas:
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Turespaña is now drafting the general lines of a Collaboration Agreement
with the Secretary of State for Culture (Convenio de Colaboración con la
Secretaría de Estado de Cultura) for the international promotion of cultural
assets and products. The Ministerio de Cultura can act as aggregator of
these Spanish assets but there is a need for bringing them into line with
international demand; this is where the collaboration with Turespaña really
comes into its own. Promotion with paradores (state-owned hotels) will be
stepped up; assets of Spain’s museums will be promoted; collaboration
with the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (Federación
Española de Municipios y Provincias: FEMP) for the councils to adopt
similar designs for their internet portals and city cards; integration of the
public and private sector, unification of the legal and professional system of
the tourism guides of the whole of Spain and drawing up a Cultural Assets
Integration Plan (Plan de Integración de la Oferta Cultural).

Signing of a Collaboration Agreement with Patrimonio Nacional (Spanish
National Trust) for international promotion of the state-owned property that
is part of the royal household.

Signing of a Collaboration Agreement with the Ministry of Defence
(Ministerio de Defensa) for promotion of the historical heritage and cultural
activities of defence.

Establishment of goals through bilateral agreements with the Ministry of
Education, Culture and Sport (Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte),
regional and local authorities, foundations, etc. so that most of the culturalasset managing organisations certify themselves through the various
programmes of the Sistema de Calidad Turístico Español (SCTE).
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Collaboration with the networks of customer experience management
agencies that contribute added value to Spain’s products, integrating as
they do several elements that help the destination to stand out from the
rest.
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Development of standardisation and an interface of high quality
promotional contents available for any tourism organisation that wishes to
use them (open data). Especially important here will be the proposal of
previous information, preferably with one year’s notice, of timetables of
events and temporary exhibitions of cultural assets.

Standardisation of publicly managed cultural-tourism marketing systems to
encourage integration with marketing organisations and creation of a
centralised cultural-asset ticketing management system. Stress will be
placed on marketing management that drives the booking of tickets for
visitors and tourists.

Turespaña will carry out support work for marketing of the cultural public
heritage through the centralised ticket management system to phase it into
the main distribution outlets (tour operators and other intermediaries in
home markets). It will also use all its own assets (OET, portals Spain.info,
España es Cultura, etc.) to promote this supply.
Harnessing the natural heritage
It is essential to take measures to boost conservation of the natural heritage with
concomitant development of the employment and sustainable economy of the area
concerned, doing so by strengthening the tourism demand:
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Encourage the creation of a nature-based tourism product (ecotourism
in Spain) drawing on a selection of the best protected sites and bestprepared tourism firms. Both distinguish themselves by setting up voluntary
tourism-sustainability accreditation systems, recognised at European level.
The selected destinations will be national parks (parques nacionales) and
natural parks (parques naturales) accredited with the European Charter for
Sustainable Tourism, biosphere reserves, geoparks, protected sites of the
Natura 2000 Network and marine reserves. These must have a sufficient
degree of active management and international recognition (they represent
30% of the state land surface), where nature-based tourism is promoted.
The aim here is to guarantee the tourist that Spain has a certified naturetourism system, to capture sensitive tourists who are interested in
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contributing with their holiday to the sustainable tourism development of the
protected sites they visit. Work has been carried out by now on 30
protected sites and 610 tourism firms set up in these sites and prepared for
selling this product; this figure already represents a considerable supply.
This action has been carried out in collaboration with the Secretary of State
for the Environment (Secretaría de Estado de Medio Ambiente), agreeing
on the following lines of action:
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Fomenting the ecotourism product in the National Park Network.
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Harmonisation of the analysis of tourism demand to the National Parks.

Joint promotion of ecotourism in the National Park Network.

Training programme for sustainable ecotourism companies.

Promotion of the ecotourism product in the state-owned hotel network
(Paradores Nacionales).

Promotion of birdwatching tourism with the Spanish Birdwatching Society
(Sociedad Española de Ornitología: SEO).

Upping the profile of nature-based tourism on the website Spain.info
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Creation of a pilot ecotourism supply in the tourism marketing platform of
SEGITTUR.
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Drawing up the sector-based plan of nature and biodiversity tourism.
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Encourage non-motorised tourism use of natural paths and routes (1700
km of fitted-out paths, 71 greenways with local management bodies) as an
eco-friendly form of tourism covering the whole of Spain in non-motorised
means of transport and using rural accommodation.

Drawing up an interpretation plan of the maritime-terrestrial public domain
or coastal heritage for tourism use. The plan objective will be to bring out
the resources of the maritime-terrestrial public domain in seaside resorts,
improving the use of Spain’s coastline and its image as important cultural
and natural heritage through private tourism services and self-guided
interpretation equipment.
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Development of the nature tourism sector plan as laid down in Royal
Decree (Real Decreto) 1274/2011 Strategic plan of natural heritage and
biodiversity 2011-2017 in application of the Law (Ley) of 42/2007. The aim
of this plan is to promote the sustainability of nature-based tourism and it
will be implemented in collaboration with the Secretaría de Estado de
Medio Ambiente of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment
(Ministerio de Agricultura, Alimentación y Medio Ambiente: MAGRAMA).
Harnessing of the enogastronomic heritage
The recognition of Spain’s wine and cuisine heritage has recently increased at
international level thanks to the successful intervention of public figures and
companies in this field. There is still some way to go, however, to bring out the full
tourism value of this type of product. In this field private management plays a
predominant role.
Priority will therefore be given to promotion of wine and cuisine products in application
of other measures of this Plan:

Joint strategies of tourism hybridisation with the wine-producing and
agrofood sector in coordinating the Spain brand: Internationalisation in
collaboration with ICEX.
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Association with exporting firms of the agrofood and wine-producing
sectors for inclusion in the Customer Loyalty Programme.

Priority, in the network of customer experience management agencies, for
those integrating the enogastronomic supply.
Encouragement of eco-friendly, sustainable tourism
The sustainability of environmental tourism should be conceived as a horizontal tool
to be applied across all destinations and tourism resources.
The activities carried out by public authorities and the tourism sector have stressed
above all energy efficiency of tourism resources. The message of cost-saving through
energy efficiency is getting across to the whole sector and an increasing amount of
private investments are being made in this field.
There is also an increasing demand from certain segments of our outbound markets,
who place overriding importance on environment friendly attributes when choosing
their holiday destination. These are identified as eco-smart consumers or Lifestyles of
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Health and Sustainability (LOHAS) consumers, who are keen to have a trustworthy
guarantee that the supply meets their demands.
The Secretaría de Estado de Turismo, through Turespaña, will design a set of
measures that impinge on the structuring of eco-friendly tourism. To do so it will bring
this tourism to wider notice in home markets and increase its access to the main
marketers of this type of products. This plan also appreciates the need for the
involved economic agents to adopt waste-reduction and -management measures
pursuant to the provisions laid down in the Waste and Contaminated Soil Act 22/2011
of 28 July (Ley de residuos y suelos contaminados).
Some specific measures are outlined below:
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Identify and select the existing brands and certification systems in the ecofriendly tourism market to support those that best fit in with Turespaña’s
strategy and meet a minimum product standard level.

Study the feasibility and defining a system of certification-system indicators
through IET for reliable and operational measuring of tourism’s carbon
footprint and its reduction, doing so on the strength of the certification system.

Establish a favourable framework for the market of CO 2-offsetting firms,
encouraging business models that forge links with the tourism sector.

Draw up eco-friendly tourism demand studies from the point of view of
identification and segmentation of demand, preferred purchasing outlets, main
home-country marketing stakeholders, most demanded attributes, etc.

Further the international promotion of certified tourism resources and
destinations with the help of all Turespaña’s communication assets: booking
slots in online channels, attendance of Turespaña-organised tradefairs, liaison
with and access to home-country marketers, etc.

Tourist awareness-raising campaigns in collaboration with competent
authorities to prevent littering of the natural environment, famous tourism
sights, leisure areas, transport infrastructure and stations and the urban
environment in general; proper separation of the various types of waste in
suitable containers; and preventing the generation of waste, among others.
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Analysis of the impact of all draft legislation on the tourism
sector
Tourism is a horizontal sector affected by many different types of legislation from
ministerial departments or other public authorities, such as visas, consular fees,
tourism timeshare contracts, etc. Legislation amendments seldom take into account
the possible impact on the tourism sector.
A good example of this is the opinion 6-2010 “On the Consular Fee Draft” drawn up
by the Economic and Social Council (Consejo Económico y Social) with the objective
of establishing a fixed average 7.22% fee increase, expected to increase consular fee
revenue by 4 million euros. The working hypothesis for this expectation was that 80%
of revenue corresponds to tourism visa applications, on the mistaken assumption that
these would hold steady after the fee increase.
This assumption does not take into account the impact of the fee increase on tourism
visa demand.
The sheer importance of the sector for Spain’s economy, together with lack of
awareness about the impact of legislative initiatives on this sector, makes it
necessary to establish the mechanisms for taking into account the impact of any
central government legislation on the tourism sector.
The proposal of the Secretaría de Estado de Turismo in this matter is that a mention
of the tourism impact be made in the financial schedule of the approved Bills.
Promoting market unity
Spain’s tourism regulation is a patchwork mass of legislation passed at four different
levels: European legislation, state legislation, regional legislation and byelaws
approved by the various local authorities.
Pursuant to article 148 of the Spanish Constitution and the provisions laid down in the
various Statutes of Regional Autonomy, the promotion and planning of tourism within
their territorial area has been devolved on the various Regional Authorities
(Comunidades Autónomas). They have hence passed their respective legislation on
the various tourism sectors, which has to coexist with state legislation, supplementary
in character.
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The proliferation of tourism legislation, especially after the tourism boom of the sixties,
has led to the current scenario of a host of regulatory bodies and a huge dispersion in
the regulation of the sector.
The study of tourism regulation in Spain published by the Secretaría de Estado de
Turismo in 2007, which analyses the tourism laws of the seventeen regional
authorities and two Spanish-owned North African cities and the regulation of
seventeen activity subsectors (rural accommodation, hotels, hotel apartments,
restaurants, travel agencies, etc.), is a good starting point for gleaning an idea of the
dimension and diversity of existing legislation.
This study also shows that the strategic value of the tourism sector is very patchy in
the various regional authorities; hence the very different level of development of the
respective legislation from one regional authority to another. This hinders tourism
activity in Spain as a whole and might result in legal insecurity both for consumers
and providers of tourism services.
For this reason, and with the objective of harmonising the regulation of tourism and
maximising the protection of consumers and entrepreneurs involved in the diverse
tourism practices, it is now necessary to promote and lead an interdepartmental
coordination process at the various territorial levels to simplify and harmonise
legislation and maximise the protection of all tourism stakeholders.
This is a complex process but to some extent it has already begun as a result of the
mandatory implementation into Spanish law of Directive 2006/123/EC of the
European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 on services in the
internal market.
During the mandatory implementation of this Directive a thoroughgoing review was
conducted of state tourism legislation, and some of the supplementary state
legislation regulating access to some tourism activities was revoked. These were
decrees, royal decrees and ministerial orders, many of them predating the
constitution, that were considered in need of express and formal revocation so that
the regional authorities and autonomous cities, in fulfilling their remit, could adopt the
corresponding tourism organisation laws, which obviously have to be compliant with
Directive 2006/123/EC.
During this implementation process some regional authorities have already begun to
review and amend their legislation. This Plan, in collaboration with the regional
authorities, proposes to set up a think tank within the Round Table of General
Directors (Mesa de Directores Generales), whose duties will be the following:

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Evaluate the current disparity in the legislation.
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Evaluate the impact of the legislation disparity with two objectives: get
across to the sector the real impact of this disparity and propose a working
plan and order of priority for legislative harmonisation.
Amendment of the legislation affecting tourism
One of the quintessential traits of tourism is its transverse or across-the-board nature.
This trait, which sets it apart from other activities, has not traditionally been taken into
account when passing legislation on aspects that, though not strictly speaking tourist,
do impinge significantly on the sector’s development and competitiveness. Since our
objective here is to marshal all the nation’s resources in the service of the client, there
is now a need of a series of reforms in the regulation of certain subsectors at national
level with the overall objective of improving the competitive position of destination
Spain.
With this objective in mind, the measure proposes amendment or adoption of the
following legislation:
A.- Labour Reform
The tourism sector generates over 11% of Spain’s direct employment and also
generates knock-on jobs in other sectors that, without strictly speaking being tourism
per se, intervene in the chain as providers and suppliers of services to companies or
tourists.
It is therefore essential to reform the framework of labour relations implemented upon
approval of Royal Decree Law 3/2012 of 10 February of urgent labour market reform,
doing so in such a way as to cater for the employment idiosyncrasies of a key sector
for the Spanish economy, a lever for the economic upturn and a fundamental part of
the country image.
The objective of this measure is to incorporate certain specific features of tourism
employment, modernising labour relations in Spain, aiming at flexibility and reducing
labour rigidity, improving training procedures, creating more and better employment,
furnishing entrepreneurs and workers with mechanisms that avoid the need for
dismissal.
Along these lines, and in view of the proposals of the tourism sector:
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Eliminating the rigid classification in occupational categories, adopting a more
flexible criterion and favouring geographical mobility.
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Giving priority to the company agreement over the collective bargaining of the
sector.

Establish a specific right to 20 hours training a year, defrayed by the employer,
and also the obligation of training up any new recruits in the job contents.

Bringing in current-day developments such as teleworking, external flexibility
and also supporting entrepreneurs.
The aim in all this is to achieve a balanced reform meeting all the demands of the
tourism sector and helping to generate quality jobs.
These measures are amplified with specific requests from the Secretaría de Estado
de Turismo in collaboration with other government authorities, a posteriori by
establishing legal procedures.
Along these lines, one of the idiosyncrasies of employment in the tourism sector is its
seasonality, especially the generalised hiring of staff on permanent seasonal
employment contracts (the tourism-oriented employment arrangement called
“contratación fija discontinua” allowing for open-ended employment contracts with
seasonal downtime).
For this reason future labour reform will bring in support measures for prolonging the
activity period of workers on permanent seasonal contracts in the sectors of tourism,
tourism-linked trade and the hotel trade, favouring deseasonalisation by applying a
social security rebate to any permanent seasonal contracts that begin or are
maintained in the months of March and/or November.
At the time of finishing the writing of this Plan, the Bill of urgent labour market reform
measures was passing through parliament. The lower house (Congreso de los
Diputados) has approved a transitional amendment incorporating a new additional
provision: “Support measures for prolonging the activity period of workers on
permanent seasonal contracts in the sectors of tourism, tourism-linked trade and the
hotel trade”.
B.- Amendment of the Coastal Law (Ley de Costas)
The current Ley de Costas defines a public domain area with special restrictions on
private property. The objective of the Ley is to make the whole coastline accessible to
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the general public and defend it from excessive development and erosion,
guaranteeing also the necessary legal security for those affected.
Blending in the Ley’s objective with tourism use respecting the rights of citizens and
the sustainability of Spain’s coasts calls for a reform of same to bring out the full value
of the coastline. This will have a threefold approach:
1. Protection of the legitimate rights of house-owners: urgent review and
amendment of the Ley de Costas to protect the legitimate rights of the owners
of houses or small plots in coastal areas that do not involve a negative impact
on the coastal environment.
2. Other uses of beaches and coastal zones: beach bars on Spanish coasts
tend to lower the image of quality and equity. To solve this problem minimum
building and service criteria will be laid down for awarding contracts, product
pricing and type approval of the beach bars.
3. One-off beach use: another of the aspects to be considered in this integral
planning of the Spanish coastline is the possibility of using certain zones of
the terrestrial-maritime public domain by entering into agreements with the
Coastal Board (Dirección General de Costas) for holding certain tourismrelated events of general interest.
Work is underway on collaboration with the Secretaría de Estado de Medio Ambiente
to promote the following measures:
1. Increase use concessions for the coastal public domain beyond 30 years and
study mortgage possibilities. Concessionaires will also be made “co-liable” for
conserving the site where they carry out their activity.
2. Remove bureaucratic restrictions on modernisation work on buildings and
facilities set in easement areas of transit and protection, maintaining the
prohibition of increasing the built volume.
3. In collaboration with affected councils, implement standardisation plans for
all beach bars and other facilities existing in each municipal district.
4. Rethink measures so that, in agreement with MAGRAMA, an integral
planning of the whole Spanish coastline is carried out.
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C.- Amendment of the Intellectual Property Law
The Intellectual Property Law (Ley de Propiedad Intelectual) (current revised text
approved by Real Decreto Legislativo 1/1996 of 12 April) lays down the conditions for
using works covered by intellectual property rights, such as the public communication
of these works. Exercising rights corresponds solely to the author or tenure holder of
the work or service in question, although in Spain and in all comparable countries
these rights are managed by legally constituted organisations on the account and in
the interest of a set of authors or other holders of intellectual property rights.
The sector recognises the importance of establishing an efficient system for
protecting intellectual property rights and supports the following:
 The establishment of well-balanced agreements with the management
organisations,
 Bringing to a wider audience the implications of these rights and their
management system on sector services.
 Promoting those initiatives that facilitate an effective system encouraging the
highest possible degree of obligation compliance by users of the tourism
sector.
Nonetheless, the right balance has to be struck between the interests of the sectors
using intellectual property rights (including the accommodation/hotel sector) and the
rights management organisations. The same goes for the new draft Intellectual
Property Law, whose main objectives will be to achieve a regulatory system duly
based on the new features of the digital era and set up a framework of legal security.
Within the framework of these objectives, an intellectual property regulation will be
sought that respects the interests of all stakeholders and advocates transparency and
efficacy in rights management while fully meeting all the needs of the twenty first
century.
D.- Amendment of the Urban Leasehold Law
In recent years there has been a significant increase in the use of private tourism
accommodation (15.9% increase in Spain of non-resident tourists lodging in rented
dwellings in 2011). (IET, 2011)
Nonetheless, the use of unregulated accommodation might be abetting situations of
unqualified practice and unfair competition, jeopardising the quality and
competitiveness of the tourism destinations themselves.
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From the legal point of view the Urban Leasehold Law 29/1994 of 24 November (Ley
de Arrendamientos Urbanos: LAU) regulates leasing for uses other than as a
dwelling; nonetheless, it does not deal with the myriad facets of leasing dwellings for
tourism and/or tourism use.
For this reason thought should be given to the amendment of this law in two specific
aspects:

Categorise as tourism leases those that are offered through tourism
marketing channels and/or including complementary hotel-like services
(cleaning and periodical laundry service).

Duration of the contracts: occasional and/or high-turnover leasing for short
periods of time would be the indicator allowing for a better control and
knowledge of the leasing of holiday tourism dwellings. In 2011 the average
stay in leased dwellings of non-resident tourists was 16.7 days. (IET, 2011)
Work is also underway with all regional authorities on maximum possible
harmonisation between them of legislation concerning apartments and tourism
dwellings.
E.- Amendment of the Water Law (Ley de Aguas)
In Spain there is currently a total of nearly 1000 reservoirs controlling the various
catchment areas. These reservoirs were built for domestic supply, irrigation, power
generation and anti-spate flow regulation.
Once the main hydraulic uses have been guaranteed, provision can then be made for
a social and recreational use of the reservoirs so that people can enjoy aquatic
activities, generating revenue for the surrounding area.
In Spain the use of the hydraulic public domain is regulated by Real Decreto
Legislativo 1/2001 of 20 July, approving the revised text of the Ley de Aguas. This act
lays down preferential uses of the hydraulic public domain, including recreational
uses, without any specific mention of tourism use.
The objective of the measures linked to the Ley de Aguas is therefore to facilitate
tourism use of inland water bodies.
To this end the Secretaría de Estado de Turismo considers it necessary to revise the
following aspects of the Ley de Aguas:
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1. Specific inclusion of tourism use of inland water bodies among the provisions
of the Ley.
2. Increase boating areas on rivers and reservoirs, at least for non-motorised
craft.
3. Speed up the bureaucratic processes (authorisation, permits...) allowing
boating and recreational activities on inland water bodies. In 2011 4.8% of
total non-resident tourists coming to Spain practised some sort of nautical
activity. (IET, 2011)
4. Adoption of measures that look out for the safety of users of rivers and
reservoirs.
Bringing the private sector into Turespaña’s decision-making
and financing processes
In a vision of Destination Spain such as that proposed in the PNIT all stakeholders
and resources of the tourism sector, both public and private, are placed at the service
of the tourist. For this reason understanding and integration at all levels (strategic,
tactical and operational) is top priority for underpinning Spain’s competitiveness. The
private sector also calls for a total alignment of the tourism policy objectives with the
needs of the business sector, as well as a better orientation of services and
companies by Turespaña.
The objective of this measure is to promote a formal participation model for private
initiative within Turespaña’s decision-making procedures and activities and also to
weigh up the possibilities of implementing a public-private organisational model.
This participation is allowed for in the PNIT by creating a working group within
CONESTUR to determine the legal nature and financing model that would facilitate
the entry of private financing in Turespaña.
Support for the internationalisation of Spanish tourism firms
The Secretaría de Estado de Turismo, through SEGITTUR, will work towards the
internationalisation of Spain’s tourism SMEs, helping them to find their feet in new
markets and promoting the exportation of their tourism services and products. This
measure will be implemented by tapping into the tourism collaboration agreements
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signed with other countries involving specific action plans. In this endeavour
SEGITTUR will also draw on ICEX and Spain’s embassy network.
SEGITTUR, on the one hand, will pinpoint all possible projects or business
opportunities for public institutions of other countries, with the aim of their being
carried out by Spanish firms. On the other hand Spanish firms will be entitled to call in
SEGITTUR support whenever this is deemed to be important for successfully carrying
through their projects abroad.
The internationalisation of Spanish tourism SMEs will therefore be systematically
sought, helping them to break into new markets and promoting the exportation of their
tourism products and services.
Single window for innovative companies and entrepreneurs
The across-the-board nature of tourism, its strategic importance and its high SME
component mean that it is eligible for a whole host of public aid of various kinds,
covering such aspects as energy efficiency, innovation or renewal of infrastructure,
among others.
There is currently a scattered patchwork of organisations offering financing
instruments. The sheer variety of platforms used for publicising these initiatives
greatly reduces their effect, with the consequent risk that the particular aid package
might not be taken up.
The complexity of the processes for seeking out and applying for add, plus the
process of accounting for eligibility, might put off applicants completely. This holds
especially true for SMEs and entrepreneurs, little acquainted as they are with the
bureaucracy and red tape bound up with application for financing, presentation of
projects, proving eligibility, etc.
There is hence a need for improving the information- and advice-giving arrangements
in the tourism sector. This would spur entrepreneurship and maximise the potential
developments of aid, subsidies and other resources.
A single window would therefore fulfil the dual objective of offering tourism-related
entrepreneurs and companies up to date information on the various public services
available at national and international level: existing grant schemes, aid, loans and
subsidies. It would also provide them with the necessary technical advice and
consultancy for carrying out a business initiative or strengthening the development of
sector companies.
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The beneficiaries of this measure will be mainly natural or legal persons from the
private sector, eligible for any of the aid, programmes and projects launched by the
various organisations at both national and international level. Government authorities
may also be recipients when so stipulated in the aid programme.
Technical support for the single window will be given by SEGITTUR, the overarching
organiser of this scheme.
In the interests of maximising coverage of information- and advice-giving outlets the
single window will comprise several customer attention levels to suit applications
made. Its implementation will therefore involve diverse actions:
Firstly, optimisation of the existing aid portal (Ayudatur) for aid seeking services (with
alerts, document downloads, map, timetable, etc.) including information on institutions
at international level.
As support for this first action a team will be set up within SEGITTUR to provide a
service of support and advice for entrepreneurs and companies. This group of
advisors, besides topping up the information supply, will review the project proposals
that have sought financing and weigh up their eligibility for each particular aid
scheme. It will also give advice on possible financing sources and services for
entrepreneurs, tailored to suit each project.
Additionally, drawing on the knowledge acquired on the various innovation projects,
recommendations can be made to the association of companies for generating a
more competitive idea and increasing its market purchase.
Lastly, once the project has been defined, the single-window team will offer
assistance and support services in presenting applications. The aim of this service is
to support the entrepreneur/employer in checking compliance with requirements and
filling out the documentation.
Along with the above an FAQ will also be set up to answer the most frequently asked
questions that might crop up for the potential entrepreneur: which types of aid exist,
which is the ideal aid in this case, which are the aid eligibility requisites.
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Measures
Knowledge
Drawing up the Turespaña Service Catalogue
Turespaña has been carrying out its activity with the aim of providing a service for
Spanish and foreign tourism firms, regional and local public authorities plus travellers
who might wish to know about destination Spain.
As part of its ongoing commitment to the promotion of public-private knowledge and
co-responsibility within the Spanish tourism sector, Turespaña is ready to develop a
new value proposal based on key assets and drawing on its skills and experience
built up during its whole existence.
The main objective of this measure is to draw up a service catalogue to be offered to
the main beneficiaries of Turespaña’s activity: tourism and non-tourism firms, public
authorities, universities and research centres and civil society. These services can be
broken down into two types:

Services linked to promotional campaigns: actions on product lines in
coordination with the private sector and other public authorities.
Requirements will be established for lining up Turespaña’s marketing
strategy with the promotional purpose sought; these requirements will be
binding on all participants. These actions will be carried out by proposing
minimum financial participation in the real variable cost thereof in exchange
for increasing visibility of the destination brand or participating firm.

Knowledge-based services: services will also be designed under IET’s
operational support, based on Turespaña’s knowledge and analysis
capacity. Services to be offered include studies of products such as MICE,
among many others. Some will be free of charge while others with a
greater degree of customisation (live, on-demand modular access to
dynamic market research reports, harnessing Turespaña’s CRM 15, etc.)
will be offered for a set price.
As well as the abovementioned objectives it is hoped that the service catalogue will
serve as the central thrust for subsequently designing the internal transformation of
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Turespaña, with progressive access to a financing model based on greater revenue
from the services rendered.
The following actions will be carried out in pursuit of the abovementioned objectives:

Identification of the needs of Turespaña beneficiaries: a study will be
conducted of the information or knowledge needs as well as support for
promotional campaigns in line with management of Spain brand. An
identification will also be made of the organisations currently providing
these services to pinpoint niches of opportunity.

Definition of the Turespaña services for each beneficiary: these
services will be set up on the basis of the institution’s skill set, always in
due accordance with its public service remit.

Identify the revenue lines for each service: this will be done in terms of
two criteria, firstly the service value for the beneficiary and secondly the
public utility character.

Transformation of processes, systems and organisation as necessary
for the operation of each service: development of the value proposal will
imply redesigning of Turespaña’s model towards a more market-oriented
form.
Reorganisation and modernisation of the Consejerías de
Turismo de España en el Exterior
The network of Consejerías de Turismo de España en el Exterior (Diplomatic-Mission
Departments of Spanish Tourism Abroad or Spanish Tourism Offices: OET)
represents a strategic asset of the Spanish tourism sector, acting as a interface with
the outbound sector and as antennae in the outbound markets.
The current network suffers from a series of structural shortfalls that can be broken
down into two:

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The geographical situation of the consejerías with respect to Turespaña’s
strategy is inadequate: Turespaña’s Strategic Marketing Plan has defined
certain groupings and a market-based positioning (pending the omnibus
study); this does not tally with the current distribution of the consejerías.
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The current consejerías suffer from functional shortfalls in their current
structure in relation to Turespaña’s needs for the new service catalogue.
The staff of the consejerías created up to the nineties (the great majority of
those making up the current network) carry out functions that no longer
meet the sector’s current needs, still based as they are on giving telephone
information to tourists, public attention and the distribution of brochures.
Although the hired personnel has shown a great capacity of adaptation and
motivation, the remuneration structures are not in keeping with the high
level of training necessary for tackling the marketing-management and
information-analysis tasks, including a high ICT takeup.
This Plan envisages a thoroughgoing overhaul of the OETs to reorganise their
geographical distribution and bring them into line with the modernisation criteria as
reflected in the new service catalogue referred to herein.
An account is given below of the actions to be carried out for the analysis, unification
and optimisation of the OETs’ management procedures and services:

Analysis and diagnosis of the current situation of the OETs: in terms of
the value proposal defined in Turespaña’s service catalogue.

Definition of the new model of Consejería and geographical
distribution: the typical consejería structure will be established to meet
pinpointed needs; a proposal will also be made of the geographical
distribution of the objectives of the Strategic Marketing Plan. This proposal
will be sent up to the CONESTUR Working Group as specified above under
“Entrance of the private sector in Turespaña’s decision-making procedures
and financing arrangements” for vetting thereof.

Deployment of the new model.
Reorientation of national tourism statistics
At the beginning of the nineties, Turespaña introduced new statistical methodologies
to fine-tune the recording of tourism entries across Spain’s borders and also to obtain
new data to improve the design of public policies associated with the sector.
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This rearrangement gave rise to the statistical surveys FRONTUR (Spanish inbound
Tourism Survey, EGATUR (Spanish Tourism Expenditure Survey) and FAMILITUR
(Spanish Domestic and Outbound Tourism Survey); ever since then these surveys
have been drawn up by Turespaña through the Instituto de Estudios turísticos (IET),
in collaboration with other organisations (Instituto Nacional de Estadística and Banco
de España) for the implementation and improvement of statistical series such as the
Tourism Satellite Account.
In this way IET complies with its main remits: research and preparation of statistical
surveys (RD 561/2009) and bringing tourism knowledge and intelligence to a wider
audience.
The present economic circumstances oblige public authorities to look for cost-saving
synergies. The generation and management of the statistical surveys FRONTUR,
EGATUR and FAMILITUR use up a large amount of IET’s resources. The time and
effort spent on the publication of the abovementioned surveys, therefore, necessarily
robs time from IET’s second major remit, the creation of tourism knowledge and
spreading it further afield.
Furthermore, the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE) is a renowned specialist with
a wealth of experience in statistical surveys. A joint study will therefore be carried out
with INE to ascertain the feasibility of transferring to this organisation, resources
permitting, the remit for generating and managing tourism surveys. This would result
in information of greater recognition and trustworthiness and a reinforcement of its
leadership in these tasks.
The objectives sought with this measure are the following:
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
Forge closer collaboration relations with the INE in the production of
tourism statistical surveys with the aim of transferring this remit to said
organisation while Turespaña retains its role in the definition of statistical
needs and source access.

Reinforce IET’s leadership as a centre of tourism knowledge, allowing it to
focus its attention on the application of complex techniques (data mining) in
using the powerful data warehouse possessed today. A crucial factor here
is the service catalogue to be offered in this field, duly improved and
brought to wider notice. Turespaña is also guaranteed continuance of its
privileged access to all tourism-related statistical data.

Strengthen tourism-related statistical operations for state purposes,
exploiting available government-run sources, thereby limiting and
rationalising the statistical burden of tourism firms and cutting costs by
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harnessing synergies with the INE and the rest of the tourism statistics
system.

Reduce the costs of drawing up statistical figures.
The development of this measure involves several actions likely to achieve the set
objectives in the mid term.
Firstly, a collaboration agreement has been signed between the presidencies of
Turespaña and INE laying down the procedures, timetables and conditions for
collaboration with INE in preparing the surveys FAMILITUR, FRONTUR and
EGATUR.
Collaboration under this agreement will be carried out under the two following phases:

In the first phase, in 2012, after signing the agreement, such working
groups as are deemed necessary will be set up to carry out such tasks as
may be mutually determined. They will comprise at least the following:
document analysis, checking specifications and all necessary actions.

In the second phase, as from 1 January 2013:
o
INE will collaborate in the tasks of debugging, vetting and grossing
up of the data supplied by Turespaña, providing for that purpose its
own human and material resources.
o
Turespaña, for its part, will continue to hold responsibility for
fieldwork and distribution of the results, financing the total cost of
the operations with its own resources.
o
Turespaña will continue to take on responsibility for distributing the
results, making explicit mention of INE’s collaboration in the
production process.
A joint monitoring committee will be responsible for monitoring activities under the
agreement and establishing specific actions for putting it into effect. It will also clear
up any questions of interpretation that might crop up in carrying out the agreement.
Once concise results are available the conclusions will be passed on to the regional
authorities, interested groups of the private sector, businessmen’s associations,
tourism observatories and tourism experts for analysing these conclusions and
improving the handover strategy.
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Talent and entrepreneurship
Credit facilities for young tourism entrepreneurs
Young entrepreneurs are the group best placed at the moment for introduction of
supply-side tourism management innovations. This capacity, however, will be
undermined for as long as Spain entrepreneur’s are closed off from the necessary
funding sources for setting up the seed capital of their businesses and launching their
projects.
This Plan therefore defines a measure that aims to facilitate access to financing
sources, allowing innovation-driven entrepreneurs to set their project in motion.
Innovation is to be understood in its widest sense here, i.e., not restricted solely to
technological aspects but also innovation in products and services or in management
or other groundbreaking ideas.
The budget for the Secretaría de Estado de Turismo includes a new item, available to
young tourism entrepreneurs, namely profit-participating loans on terms better than
market conditions. For this purpose an agreement will be signed between SEGITTUR
and ENISA.
These aid packages remove one of the main obstacles preventing entrepreneurs from
launching their projects, namely the furnishing of guarantees.
Innovative tourism entrepreneurs programme
Spain’s huge wealth of as yet untapped tourism resources represents an unbeatable
business opportunity for groundbreaking entrepreneurs with initiative and a good
knowledge of the necessary management tools.
The main objective of this measure is to identify budding talent in academic circles in
Spain or abroad, pinpointing principally those potential entrepreneurs whose highlevel projects and research, on the strength of their practicality and applicability, can
be put into practice in the tourism business.
This action fits into an architecture of measures that aim to kindle the innovation
capacity of Spain’s tourism industry. The combination of these measures will furnish
companies and entrepreneurs with the necessary tools for successfully carrying
through business plans identified in the seedbeds of young entrepreneurs; thus, both
the single window of support for aid-searches and -applications and the credit facility
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for young entrepreneurs will help to guarantee the attraction and retention of budding
talent in the sector.
This measure will be based on the setting up of a complete cooperation network for
promoting tourism entrepreneurship, especially involving younger entrepreneurs.
Drawing on the potential of existing work networks, Red-Intur, Sictur and ThinkTur,
and increasing their capacity to cater for new organisations, a powerful network
architecture will be set up for maximising the entrance of prestige training centres.
For this purpose agreements will be set up with the most prestigious Spanish
business schools and universities and other organisations with the object of creating
seedbeds of young entrepreneurs that can input forward-looking ideas.
Within these organisations stress will be placed on the training and skills-building of
young tourism entrepreneurs to pinpoint new opportunities and nurture the
development of groundbreaking business models. A grant agreement will be set up
with the Industrial Organisation School (Escuela de Organización Industrial) within the
framework of its tourism-oriented teaching syllabi.
The objectives of this measure include support in the search for information investors
(e.g. business angels), to help in the start-up of innovative tourism firms.
As well the various grant schemes unearthed, a seedbed capital fund will be set up,
budget permitting, to finance the launching of groundbreaking projects presented by
young entrepreneurs. The eligibility criteria for this seedbed capital need to be
established after due vetting and selection of tourism business projects.
To complement and support this initiative a complete communication programme will
be carried out to maximise its scope.
Bringing training into line with business demand
A key factor in ushering the tourism sector towards a knowledge economy is the
availability of a pool of exceptional talent adapted to the new challenges of the sector,
as a crucial capacity in a competitive vision of Destination Spain. Excellence of the
talent depends largely on the quality of the training, how far it answers actual sector
demands and the professional opportunities for attracting the best prepared and
brightest careers.
The Spanish tourism sector has frequently advocated the need of establishing
government measures to improve training, to bring it into line with new career needs.
As well as meeting this challenge training should also bring out certain exceptional
attributes that represent the Spain brand from a systematisation approach.
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The Secretaría de Estado de Turismo, through Turespaña, will promote the following
measures as touchstones of specific aspects of the training:
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
Definition of an SME-manager training syllabus with an internationally reputed
school for systematisation and training in customer attention, stressing the
standout attributes of the Spain brand (happiness, conviviality, etc.). Support
for the establishment of a training supply with these attributes with both faceto-face and online teaching.

Study of the training needs of present and future career profiles for the tourism
sector and identification of the key knowledge areas for the sector over the
coming years. This study will be conducted on the basis of enquiries with
participating firms.

Support for pilot collaboration programmes between training centres and
companies to fill loopholes and gaps in current training arrangements.
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RIORITISATION OF
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The measures laid down in the PNIT have different timeframes, call on different resources or
imply a different degree of dependence on other agents, among other differences between
them.
This heterogeneity requires the establishment of some prioritisation criteria for deciding on
the order in which they should be tackled.
Prioritisation Methodology
Measure prioritisation criteria
First and foremost it is necessary to establish which attributes associated with each
measure will be studied. Two prioritisation criteria have been defined, namely ease of
implementation and the impact of each measure, characterised in turn by a series of
subcriteria.
Ease of implementation:
An evaluation will be made of the degree of deployment difficulty of each measure,
considering the following subcriteria:
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
The timetabling of each measure: determined by the necessary time for
tackling it completely. The longer the deadline, the less its ease of
implementation.

Complexity: this involves a subjective evaluation of the technical difficulty
of bringing it into effect. The less complex the measure, the easier it is to
implement.

Resource need: quantity and characteristics of the necessary resources
for a correct implementation of the measure. This includes both human
resources (necessary personnel, skills level, time spent on the activity...)
and economic or technological resources. The more implementation
resources needed, the lower its ease of implementation.

Dependence between measures: the degree to which a given measure is
linked to the implementation or completion of other measures. A greater
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dependence on other measures is considered to be a risk factor for
developing it in time and form, reducing its ease of implementation.

Dependence on other agents: degree to which the carrying out of the
measure depends on one or several agents outside the Secretaría de
Estado de Turismo. The requisite of cooperation with other agents or
institutions calls for a higher level of consensus-seeking or participation,
thus lowering its ease of implementation.
The impact of the measure:
This involves an assessment of the capacity of each measure for favouring the tourism
sector in the terms defined by the PNIT, considering the following subcriteria:
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
Favour a framework of competitiveness: evaluation of the contribution of
the measure to a general improvement of business competitiveness.
Measures whose objective is to increase competition at a macroeconomic
level will be deemed to have a greater impact.

Increase in revenue, cost saving and improving the efficiency and efficacy
of the public sector dealing with tourism-related services: the measure’s
revenue-boosting or cost-cutting potential or the degree to which it
represents improvements in the provision of tourism-related public
services. All measures with this capacity will be deemed to have a greater
impact.

Number of PNIT objectives reinforced: estimate of the number of
objectives directly affected by the measure. Measures conducive to the
achievement of several objectives will therefore have a greater impact.

Payback time: expected time for the measure to begin producing the
desired results. Measures quicker to produce results (calculated as the
start time of the results) will be deemed to have a greater impact.
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Prioritisation Matrix
The measures evaluated on the basis of these criteria are positioned in a prioritisation
matrix that will then serve as a framework for carrying out the Plan. Each matrix quadrant
will have a different meaning:
Priority quadrant:
This quadrant contains the most important measures that
are also most conducive to fulfilment of objectives and
less difficult to tackle. In principle these measures should
be implemented in the short-mid term, since they will soon
start to contribute towards the PNIT objectives.
Strategy quadrant:
As in the priority quadrant, the strategy quadrant contains
the most important and beneficial measures defined within
the Plan. In this case, however, their implementation will
call for a big effort due to the high degree of difficulty.
Rapid improvement quadrant:
This quadrant includes all the measures that, despite
having a lower relative impact, are comparatively easy to
tackle. They can be carried out at any moment.
Continual improvement quadrant:
This last quadrant contains measures that, with a lower
relative impact or high degree of difficulty, have a lower
priority. Implementing them will call for continual effort in a
medium- and long-term timeframe.
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Evaluation of the measures
On the basis of the methodological framework as described above, an evaluation will be
made of each measure for subsequently placing them in the prioritisation matrix.
A description is given below of the main characteristics of the measures in terms of their
ease of implementation and impact.
Ease-ofimplementation
factors
Measure
Driving the Strategic Marketing Plan
Permanent EU representation of Spanish tourism
interests
Launch of the "Fidelización España" programme
Driving a campaign to stimulate national tourism
demand
Support for Tourism Municipalities
Smart destinations:
management
Networks
agencies
of
innovation
customer
in
experience
destination
management
Standardisation of the rating and categorisation of
hotels, rural accommodation and campsites
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Impact factors
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Measure
Bringing out the importance of Spain's cultural and
natural heritage, wine and cuisine
Analysis of the impact of all proposed legislation on
the tourism sector
Encouraging market unity
Amendment of tourism-affecting legislation
Bringing the private sector into Turespaña's decisionmaking and financing processes
Support for the internationalisation of Spain's tourism
firms
Single window for groundbreaking entrepreneurs and
firms
Drawing up the Turespaña Services Catalogue
Reorganisation and modernisation of the Spanish
Consejerías de Turismo abroad
Programme of innovating tourism entrepreneurs
Bringing training and research procedures into line
with business demand
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Ease-ofimplementation
factors
Impact factors
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The prioritisation matrix
It should be pointed out here that all measure assessments have been standardised for
placement in the prioritisation matrix. Thanks to this standardisation all measures will be
distributed throughout the matrix, facilitating their interpretation. For this reason it should
be understood that a measure of lower priority is so regarded only in relation to the other
measures included in the PNIT, not because its priority is lower per se.
The measures are placed below within the prioritisation map in terms of the
abovementioned criteria of ease of implementation and impact.
This map therefore helps to identify the order in which the measures described in the
PNIT should be tackled. These measures, ordered according to the quadrants they
belong to, are the following:
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Priority quadrant


Driving the Strategic Marketing Plan

Development of Turespaña’s service catalogue


Analysis of the impact of all proposed legislation on the tourism sector

Launching of the programme "Fidelización España"
Strategy Quadrant

Programme of innovating tourism entrepreneurs

Bringing the private sector into Turespaña's decision-making and financing
processes

Support for tourism municipalities

Networks of customer experience management agencies

Amendment of tourism-affecting legislation

Reorganisation and modernisation of the Spanish Consejerías de Turismo
abroad

Encouraging market unity.
Rapid improvement quadrant
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Permanent EU representation of Spain's tourism interests

Driving a campaign to stimulate national tourism demand


Smart destinations: innovation in destination management



Single window for groundbreaking entrepreneurs and firms
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Continual improvement quadrant
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Bringing training and research procedures into line with business demand

Standardisation of the rating and categorisation of hotels, rural accommodation
and campsites

Support for the internationalisation of Spain's tourism firms


Bringing out the importance of Spain's cultural and natural heritage, wine and
cuisine

M
C
ONITORING AND
ONTROL
MINISTERIO
Y TURISMO
TURISMO
One of the defining traits of the PNIT is its commitment to operating within a coordinated,
controlled, measurable and transparent strategy.
For this purpose coordination and monitoring mechanisms will be defined to ensure that:

The headway made in the proposed measures can be quantified and evaluated on a
continual basis.

The objectives defined in the PNIT are monitored to keep abreast of the state of each
one at any time.

Their state and progress are known by the public at large.
A description is given below of the elements of coordination, monitoring and control.
Coordination instruments
The plan coordination instruments are those that currently exist, which will now be
tapped into for setting up a dialogue and collaboration forum between sector agents:
CONESTUR, Conferencia Sectorial de Turismo (Sector-Based Tourism Conference) and
the Comisión Interministerial de Turismo (Interministerial Tourism Committee).
A summary is given below of the mission, main functions and composition of these
instruments:
115
TURISMO
MINISTERIO
Y TURISMO
TYPES OF
ORGANISATIO
N
OBJECT
MAIN
FUNCTIONS
COMPOSITION
BODIES
CONESTUR
16
Serve as a forum of
dialogue, participation and
collaboration, driving privatepublic cooperation
• Issuing reports on criteria
and lines of plans and
programmes.
• Propose initiatives and
actions for promotion
abroad and public-private
collaboration.
• Draw up sector situation
reports (needs and
demands).
• Bring analysis and studies
to a wide audience.
• Ministerio de Industria,
Energía y Turismo
• Regional authorities
(Comunidades
Autónomas)
• Federación Española de
Municipios y Provincias
• Chambers of commerce
• Trade Unions
• Employers’ organisations
• Sector businessmen,
experts and professionals
Plenum / Committee /
Working groups
CONFERENCIA SECTORIAL
17
DE TURISMO
Articulate
and
solve
on
a
cooperation principle all questions of
common interest that impinge on the
tourism activity of the central
government and regional authorities
• Exchange points of view and
debating actions of a general
character.
• Debate draft legislation.
• Swap experiences associated with
the respective public policies.
• Integrate criteria of the regional
authorities in state plans.
• Draw up collaboration agreements
favouring the vitality and
rationalisation of cooperation
instruments.
COMISIÓN INTERMINISTERIAL
18
DE TURISMO
Promote and coordinate the action of
central government services and state
public entities
• Coordinate the actions of the various
ministerial departments and
organisations of the central
government.
• Study and formulate integral tourism
action plans and proposals.
• Report and give opinions on
tourism-impacting projects and
proposals of national scope.
• Ministerio de Industria, Energía y
Turismo
• Regional authorities
(Comunidades Autónomas)
• Ministerio de Industria, Energía y
Turismo
• Other ministries of the central
government
Plenum / Round Table of Directors /
Working groups
Plenum / Standing Committee /
Working groups
16
REAL DECRETO 719/2005, de 20 de junio, por el que se crea el Consejo Español de Turismo. (ROYAL DECREE 719/2005
of 20 June creating the Spanish Tourism Council
17
Reglamentos de las Conferencias Sectoriales, Ministerio de Hacienda y Administraciones Públicas. (Regulations of the
Sector-Based Conferences. Ministry of Finance and Liaison between Government Levels)
18
Real Decreto 6/1994, de 14 de enero, por el que se crea la Comisión Interministerial de Turismo (Royal Decree 6/1994 of 14
January creating the Interministerial Tourism Committee and Real Decreto 418/2012 of 24 February amending Real Decreto
6/1994, de 14 de enero, por el que se crea la Comisión Interministerial de Turismo.
116
MINISTERIO
Y TURISMO
TURISMO
Monitoring and control
The Secretaría de Estado de Turismo, through Turespaña, will provide the necessary
tools and resources for monitoring and control of the PNIT. These functions will be
tackled in two phases:
Phase 1: A management plan defining the operational model plus the various planmonitoring tools and indicators.
Indicators will be broken down into three levels:

Impact indicators: designed to gauge the trend of the various fields within the
Spanish tourism sector. These indicators answer objective-monitoring needs,
defined from a macroeconomic perspective.

Results indicators: these evaluate the milestone feats achieved by the
measures.

Execution indicators: variables for studying the degree to which the measures
have been carried out. These indicators monitor the degree of measure
implementation.
A definition will also be made of the following PNIT control and monitoring tools:

A dashboard for continuous monitoring of the state of the plan from the most
strategic perspective.

A measure monitoring panel, a tool ensuring more operational control of the plan
by means of results and execution indicators.
Phase 2: Setting up a plan control and monitoring office for as long as the plan remains
in force, as a tool of same rather than an administrative unit. Its main functions will be
use and working up of the data and drawing up reports on the progress of the Plan.
Information compiled on the situation and forecasts of the PNIT will be communicated to
the various coordination organisations in terms of the remit of each one.
117
MINISTERIO
Y TURISMO
TURISMO
CONESTUR, as the organisation with the widest-ranging representation within Spain’s
tourism sector, will be the tourism sector coordination instrument and reporting body of
the overall monitoring of plan objectives and measures. The Executive Committee, due
to its working procedure, will be PNIT’s general liaison body.
The Ministerio de Fomento (Ministry of Public Works), through the National Geographical
Institute (Instituto Geográfico Nacional), will be able to draw up specific instruments for
supporting the coordination, control and monitoring of the PNIT satisfying the needs of
geographical information, tourism cartography and statistical cartography based on these
indicators. It will also be able to design geographical information systems that provide for
an efficient management, dissemination and geographical distribution of the recourses
developed or incentivised under this Plan and, especially, as support for the Monitoring
and Control Office to be set up in phase 2.
118
A
NNEX
TURISMO
MINISTERIO
Y TURISMO
PNIT inputs
In these execution phases the PNIT was presented to the regional authorities through the
Mesa de Directores Generales (2 March 2012) and the Conferencia Sectorial (12 March
2012); to the tourism sector as a whole as represented in the Consejo Español de Turismo
(CONESTUR) (17 April 2012) and to the ministerial departments on the Comisión
Interministerial (7 May 2012).
During this process a communication channel was opened for all the abovementioned agents
to make their own inputs and express their specific needs, which were then taken to account
in drawing up the PNIT.
As a result of this exchange of views, about two hundred inputs were received from public
and private bodies, trade unions and employers’ organisations.
The table below sums up the main participating agents or institutions; the Secretaría de
Estado de Turismo would like to thank them all for their contributions.
121
Agents
Number of inputs
Regional authorities.
68
CEHAT
1
CEOE
43
Ministerial Departments
8
EXCELTUR
10
FECOHT - CCOO
30
FEMP
20
Mesa del Turismo
1
Others
20
TOTAL
201
Written by:
Secretaría de Estado de Turismo
Instituto de Turismo de España (Turespaña)

Plan Nacional e Integral de Turismo ENG

Transcription

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