In the context of this event, Travel2latam spoke with Ana Rivas, General Director of Tourism of Navarra, about tourism matters and promotion of this destination located in the north of the Iberian Peninsula.
What does participating in this fair mean to you?
This fair is a very important national and international showcase for any destination. We are focused on national tourism, but also on international tourism and we find here all the dialogue we need. Furthermore, it is our presentation and sale of what is going to be this year in terms of projects.
What are the main new developments that you would like to highlight on this occasion?
I have been in office for a very short time, but for 3 months the sector has belonged to a different ministry, which is that of Culture, Sports and Tourism. This allows us to create synergies that we translate into product design and the promotion of some lines of work. Today we have presented a project called Navarra en Bici, which is a Public-Private club of commitment of both companies, activities, accommodation, as well as institutions and the government itself. The objective is to develop this segment that is very important for us outside of the high season, generating an economic return and projection of the destination developed in the field of sustainability.
The rest of the projects that we want to present have to do with cultural/musical tourism. We host high-level competitions and festivals, which have a sustainable design. We are going to focus a lot on Mice tourism for meetings, conferences, events, fairs, etc. And in Navarra we have a fairly powerful industrial fabric, especially linked to the health and technological field, so we have a very important travel development there. This year we also started a food and wine plan focused on the agri-food product of Navarra, which has national notoriety and we are going to work with it from tourism.
What are your main source markets and why?
Domestic tourism is very important. That is why our main source markets are national and local; such as Euskadi, Basque Country, Aragon and Rioja. It is followed by the Community of Madrid, Catalonia and the Valencian Community, where a lot of cycling is practiced, especially in summer, as the climate is cooler and healthier. So in summer we have a lot of demand.
And on an international level, we have many visitors from France, our neighboring country, who are interested in the culture of Navarre and come to visit. Then, Germany, Belgium and Holland also have a great tradition for our campsites.
How have you promoted yourself throughout this time and what is the strategy for 2024?
The promotion plans are diverse but to date they have been very focused on general promotion of the destination. That will continue to be the case, but we want to redirect much of the efforts to specific segments and niches of the market. Cycle tourism has very specific interlocutors, Mice has different work and promotion dynamics, and food and wine also has it, although it is more transversal. We are going to focus a lot on doing familiarization trips so that they can get to know us with operators specialized in certain segments and niches.