Case Study : Badajoz – Success and Obstacles in the

Case Study : Badajoz – Success and Obstacles in the
Development of a Dynamisation Plan.
By Mikel Asensio Brouard and Manuel Mortari Fernandez, UAM
1. History, context and
background of the Tourism
in Badajoz
important economic activity of the city,
mainly because of the proximity of
Portugal. Badajoz is also an important
crossroad
between
Spain
and
the
neighbouring country, an aspect that
will be even more important with the
construction of the AVE (high speed)
railroad, programmed for year 2010.
Despite the evidence of scattered prehistoric and subsequent settlements, the
history of Badajoz starts officially with
the foundation of the fortified village of
Fig. 1, Badajoz position in Spain.
The city of Badajoz is located in the
south-western
part
of
the
Iberic
peninsula, on the banks of the Guadiana
River. It is located near to the border
with
Portugal,
at
an
approximate
distance of 400 km from Madrid. It is
the capital of its province, and belongs
to the Extremadura region. According
to the National Institute for Statistics,
the town counts 143.019 inhabitants, of
which 55% is comprised between 20
and 60 years old, and 22% under 20.
The economy of the city has been
traditionally based on the primary and
third sector, but in the last half century
the services sector
has developed
largely, and is currently the most
Batallyos in 875, by the Muladí rebel
Ibn Marwan. The town flourished
quickly and by the 11th century was one
of the most important Hispano-Arab
cities
of
the
time.
After
the
disintegration of the Cordoba caliphate
in 1031, Badajoz became one of the
largest independent kingdoms (Taifas)
of the peninsula. Two centuries later, in
1230, the city was conquered by
Alfonso IX, King of León. After a
period of decay, the city arose again,
also because of its position in a frontier
territory. In 1580 Felipe II, King of
Spain, moved the court from Madrid to
Badajoz in order to direct the operations
for taking over Portugal. The absence of
wars during the following 60 years will
make the city flourish again. However,
new conflicts arrived (the Portuguese
Restoration
war,
and
the Spanish
2. Tourism Development
Strategy: The "Plan de
Dinamización"
(Dynamisation Plan)
Succession war), and Badajoz suffered
Badajoz lacks a tourism tradition, in the
attacks and sieges, which is the reason
terms that we understand tourism,
why there is not too much built heritage
associated to leisure. However, the
left. apart from the 17th century
geographic position of the city, in a
fortifications. In the 19th century the
crossroad between Madrid, Lisboa and
city suffered the consequences of a new
Sevilla, and close to the border with
war, the Independence one, and was
Portugal,
pillaged both by the French and the
important circulation of persons and
English troops. The end of 19th and
goods, which in the last decades has
beginning of 20th century brought to
encouraged the proliferation of hotels,
Badajoz a period of great development,
and the construction of an airport and a
both in terms of urbanism and important
Conference Centre. This is the reason
architectonic elements. The interval of
why the municipality decided in the
the Civil War didn’t stop the growth of
1990s to try to take the most of the
the city, until the great migrations of the
infrastructures and the potential tourism
60’s started. In the following decades,
market, both in the region (1.562.000 of
Badajoz gradually shifted its economy
national tourists visited the whole
from the first to the third sector, to
region in year 2001, to cite figures
become nowadays the largest and most
provided by the Ministry of Industry,
dynamic city of Extremadura, and its
Tourism and Commerce) and in the city
economic leader (source: Municipality’s
(214.000 night stays in the year 2005,
home-page, and Guia Campsa).
according to the data collected by the
has
always
entailed
an
tourism observatory of ITAE) . In order
to do this, the idea was to structure the
cultural-tourism offer (as stated in the
minutes of
the First
Extremadura
Tourism Congress, 2001). The problem,
in words of the Tourism Councillor,
was the lack of a built heritage
Fig. 2, View of Badajoz.
enhancement tradition, which resulted
in the ignorance and disdain of the
destinations with
cultural,
residents towards the monuments and
sport,
and
built heritage of their city. This was the
relevance (among other). In Spain this
point of depart, with a clear analysis of
kind of plan comes out of a series of
the objective (impulse leisure tourism in
national framework plans for tourism
the city) and the main handicap (the
competitivity: FUTURES (1992-1995)
lack of a touristic image, both in the
and PICTE (2000-2006), launched in
minds
potential
the early nineties by the Ministry of
tourists). With these premises the
Industry, Tourism and Commerce. The
application to a dynamisation plan
first framework plan was created to
appeared to be the best way to focus the
reduce and correct the negative impacts
attention on the Cultural and Built
(mainly ecological and in terms of town
Heritage aspects of the city, in order to
planning) of thirty years of wild tourism
integrate and complement the already
development, and the second one was
existing business-tourism sector.
created after assessing the success of its
of
residents
and
shopping
wildlife,
gastronomic
predecessor, with the same goals. More
specifically, the Dynamisation plans
were created in the 1996 Tourism
Sectorial Conference. The investments,
financed
Agreement
equally
of
by
local,
a
Collective
regional
and
national administrations, are distributed
in three or four years, and they are used
Fig. 3, Badajoz, the Alcazaba.
The Dynamisation Plans are addressed
to destinations that are driving their
tourism
and
have
some
basic
infrastructures but want to ensure a
sustainable,
competitive
economically
reliable
Furthermore,
in
dynamisation
plans
and
development.
many
cases
the
to
the
aim
diversification of the typical
sun &
beach, developing new products and
to prepare the natural or built heritage
and historical resources for tourist
consumption. The most frequent actions
involve the improvement of lighting in
downtown areas, the conservation and
restoration
of
reinforcement
built
of
heritage,
public
the
services
(mainly the transport), the construction
of
museums,
visitor
centres
and
viewpoints, the display of signposts in
trekking routes, the increase of the hotel
and
restaurant
offer,
and
the
 Strengthen diversify and integrate
construction or improvement of Tourist
the built heritage and natural
Information
tourism offer.
Offices. In relation to the
Excellence Plans, to which they are
similar
in
many
aspects,
the
Dynamisation Plans correspond to a
lower stage of Tourism development.
de Dinamización was launched by a
agreement
between
professionalism of the tourism
services.
 Develop among residents and local
In the specific case of Badajoz, the Plan
collective
 Increase the quality and
the
Ministry of Industry, Tourism and
Commerce, the Region of Extremadura,
agents an interest and sensibility for
Tourism Quality aspects.
 Support the enterprises
 Study and design policies and
the Municipality of Badajoz and the
strategies for the development of
Confederation of Tourism Businessmen
tourism.
of Extremadura. Its planned length was
 Improve and diversify the
of three years, from 2002 to 2005, and
complementary offer.
the total budget amounted to 2,16
Millions of Euros (source: Ministry of
Industry, Tourism and Commerce). The
 Construct and improve
infrastructures.
generic goal of the Plan was to
transform the city into a tourism
destination both in the Spanish and
Portuguese tourism market (source:
Home-page of the Plan).
3. Concrete actions within
the Cultural Tourism
Strategy
Fig. 4, Badajoz’s Carnival.
A series of objectives were defined, in
order to achieve the generic goal was to:
 Enhance the monumental, cultural,
historical and natural resources, for
a tourism consumption.
The objectives generated a series of
concrete actions, that are available in
the Home-page of the Plan:
 Redaction of a Strategic Tourism
Development Plan.
 Launch of a tourism promotional
campaign
 Execution of a complete signpost
plan for the whole city.
 Creation of a Visitor Centre (CIDE)
 Development of a complete
monuments lighting plan.
 Launch of a campaign for the
promotion of a quality tourism,
addressed to enterprises.
Fig. 5, Badajoz, Puerta de Palmas.
The Plan de Dinamización expired
officially in 2005 but there are many
actions that still remain unfinished
(mainly
the
enhancement
of
the
Alcazaba and of large parts of the
downtown). Beside the concrete actions,
 Preparation of a promotion and
the strategic plans and the objectives
marketing program for the city
fixed by the plan are still defining the
 Redaction of a plan for a leisure-
policies of the municipality, and is
tourism exploitation of the
beginning to produce effects. One of
Guadiana river.
them, for instance, is a private initiative
 Enhancement and real use of the
downtown.
 Design of a landscape rehabilitation
program.
 Launch of a residents-oriented
lead by the Business School ITAE in
2005,
the
launch
of
a
Tourism
Observatory. Unlike the one in Ávila
devoted to the monitoring of Tourism
flows,
to
visitor
studies
and
to
macroeconomic studies, the Badajoz
campaign to make aware of the
observatory is more oriented towards
richness of the tourism offer of the
analysis and consulting tasks. In fact,
city.
beside a general tourism monitoring
activity, limited to some indicators and
conceived
to
provide
very
basic
information, the purpose of the ITAE
observatory is to exchange information
and ideas between private sector agents,
foster the co-operation between them
and provide suggestions and ideas to the
as part of the whole process of
municipality in order to develop the
management of cultural resources. It
tourism sector and bring benefits to all
completes and is integrated into the
the stakeholders.
management process and strategies of
This observatory, or Think tank as it
should better be called, illustrates and
fits well into the situation of Badajoz:
there is a politic will, there are
infrastructures and there are means for a
Tourism development. However, the
development of the sector is not
balanced, the private sector stakeholders
enjoy
a
longer
development
of
experience.
the
The
public
administration policies does not satisfy
the municipality. The main difference
between the UAM tool and a typical
Tourism Observatory as in Ávila is that
our tool provides more qualitative
analysis of the city’s cultural offer,
while other Observatories aim more to
statistical
results.
The
UAM
tool
retrieves data that makes possible not
only
descriptive
reports,
but
also
detailed analysis of the cultural offer of
any city.
the expectations or the schedule of the
The
private sector, so the latter takes the
monitoring tool in Badajoz obtaining
initiative and submit a proposal of
very useful information about (among
guidelines to the Municipality. This
other things) the perception of the
situation represents a natural moment in
image by the residents and by potential
the development of the tourism sector of
and actual visitors. The detailed survey
a city, but entails the risk that the
and conclusions of our tool can be
private interests overcome the interests
found in the final report (D22: Cultural
of the community. In this sense, it
Offer
would
available
be
advisable
that
the
UAM
team
Quality
on
has
tested
Monitoring
its
Tools,
http://www.pciture-
Municipality develop other monitoring
project.com).
However we would like to
tools, independent and oriented to
mention here the most remarkable
evaluate the tourism flows as well as the
outcomes that can be related to the
impact of tourism on the residents, and
strategies of the Plan de Dinamización.
the quality and sustainability of the
The main conclusion is that, despite
offer. The monitoring tool developed by
being one of the actions of the Plan, the
the UAM team for instance evaluates a
city of Badajoz still hasn’t developed
wide range of impacts, and is conceived
yet a valid strategy to lead and integrate
actions and sectors (urbanism, culture,
of the Plan, a better knowledge and
education, etc.) of the municipality.
appreciation of the built heritage of the
This can be seen, for instance, in the
city by its own residents, has clearly
delays of the urbanistic rehabilitation of
been achieved.
the downtown, and the recovery of the
Historical built Heritage: the impression
of the tourists is negative (feeling of
insecurity
and
poverty).
Another
example of the work still to be done can
be the image that the city evokes on the
potential visitors: we have detected that
it is dominated by the presence of the
Nature
element,
followed
by
the
“Culture, History and Art” aspects, and
subsequently by “Built Heritage” and
“Gastronomy”. This image is quite
Obviously Badajoz has a long way to go
in tourism planning and management. A
Plan de Dinamización
has to be
considered as a starting point for a
professionally driven tourism policy,
more than an objective itself. Badajoz’s
challenge now is to keep on with the
good job done untill now and define and
plan clearly its tourism policy and
strategies, integrating them into the
other departments strategies and into the
general policy of the municipality.
different from the one that actual
tourists have, which is structured around
built heritage elements as the Alcazaba
or the Cathedral. This difference shows
that the promotion of the city is still far
from
transmitting
coherent
with
the
a
clear
image,
perception
that
4. Concluding comments
and Transferable key
lessons
The experience of Badajoz offers some
interesting elements to take into
consideration. The main keys are:
residents have of their own city (which,
 Existence of a strategic plan (not
according to our analysis, corresponds
yet fully operative) where the
to built heritage, intangible heritage,
tourism policies are integrated
and Natural heritage). Having said this,
into the general policies of the
it goes without saying our tool has also
administration;
detected important positive results of
 Investment of external funds
the Plan: for example, a growing
(plan de dinamización) not only
diversification of the offer, that is
in short-term and isolated
preparing
actions (i.e., built heritage
the
terrain
for
a
full
structuration of the tourist product.
conservation and
Furthermore, one of the main objectives
embellishment) but also in
defining and launching
Ministerio de Industria, Turismo y
development strategies that will
Comercio. Subdirección General de
survive after the aid is over.
Calidad e Innovación Turística.
 Offer diversification projects
and strategies
Calidad Destinos.
(http://www.sgt.tourspain.es/paginas/Calid
adDestinos/CalidadDestinos.asp?menu=des
 Co-operation with other private
stake-holders (businessmen
association)
 Communication campaigns
tinos&scroll=cdestinos&vis=uno)
Ministerio de Industria, Turismo y
Comercio. Subdirección General de
Calidad e Innovación Turística.
among the residents about the
Planes de Excelencia.
value of Badajoz’s built heritage
(http://www.sgt.tourspain.es/paginas
5. References
Congreso del Turismo de Extremadura
(2001). Actas del primer Congreso
de Turismo de Extremadura:
Badajoz, 7, 8 y 9 de Junio de 2001.
/CalidadDestinos/PlanesExcelencia.
asp)
Municipality of Badajoz. Home-page:
(http://www.aytobadajoz.es)
Observatorio Turístico de ITAE (2005).
Badajoz: Junta de Extremadura,
Minutes of the Tourism Observatory
Consejería de Obras Públicas y
kick-off meeting celebrated the
Turismo, Dirección General de
2/XI/2005.
Turismo.
Instituto de Estudios Turísticos (2003)
Plan de Dinamización de Badajoz.
Home-page:
El turismo en España durante 2002
(http://www.dinabadajoz.com/prese
p.23.
ntacion.htm)
(http://www.iet.tourspain.es/informes/doc
umentacion/FronturFamilitur/ElTurismoEnE
spanaDurante2002.pdf)
Instituto Nacional de Estadística. Homepage: (http://www.ine.es)
Interview with the Councillor of
Tourism of Badajoz, Mr. Germán
López Iglesias, recorded the
21/VII/2004.