Palma invests in cultural tourism

Joan Collins PALMA council invested 857'000 euros from September 2004 to May 2006 in publicity to promote cultural tourism as an alternative to sun and sea holidays, according to the councillor for Tourism, Francisca Bennassar, presenting the results of the project “CultourMed” yesterday. The councillor said that this money represented 39 percent of the final budget of 2'192'500 euros for the “CultourMed” project, which formed part of the Interreg community initiative, the object of which was to promote cultural tourism in the regions who signed up to the programme, which were Palma, Sardinia, Sicily, Campania and Crete. The councillor explained that this alternative holiday offer was an attempt to complement the traditional market of sun and sea, in order to avoid the Balearics being solely a summer destination. She highlighted that the object was also to promote a sustainable growth and improve the competitivity of the Balearics within the holiday market. She said that to secure these objectives the council had identified three areas for action: improve tourist orientation, develop cultural tourism products and publish quality informative and promotional material. Among the work to improve tourist orientation, Bennassar highlighted the new tourist signs in Palma and the siting of maps showing where you are in various points around the city. In addition to this, this year the council will install new mobile tourist information offices, which will operate for one month more than last summer. Tourists will be questioned in these offices in order to establish their level of satisfaction with the service. The council is also planning to install information panels in tourist offices and hotels, as well as having static information displays. As for the promotion of artistic heritage visits, Bennassar said that her department had created itineraries to promote Palma Monumental, a tour which has been brought out on DVD, Courtyards, Walls and Gardens of the city, and the Santa Cecilia Week project. She also said that the council is working on the development or various web pages to promote the artistic heritage of the city, through which it will be possible to make virtual visits. As well as this, she announced that the council is on the point of publishing a basic tourist guide of Palma in Catalan, Castellano, English, German, Italian and French, and she said that the council has already published a book of cycling itineraries and the leaflet, “Palma yesterday, Palma today”.