The first deputy mayor and mayor of Mijas Tourism, José Carlos Martín, announced this morning that the local Administration “has already paid the more than 612,000 euros consigned within the ‘cometha tourism plan’ for companies related to the sector in the municipality”, subsidizing the Consistory to 72 percent of the businesses that have requested it.
The mayor recalled that the ‘tourism cometha plan’ was born last year to mitigate the economic damage caused by Covid-19 in the economic activity of tourism, for which it has been addressed to golf courses, hotels and tourist accommodation and other companies related to the sector.
“For us it was essential to help this industry that generates so many jobs in the city, as well as consumption opportunities and dynamization of the economy local”, pointed out Martín, who added that “public-private collaboration is essential to prevent jobs from being destroyed, on the contrary, it is good for maintaining and consolidating them”.
The Tourism area of the Mijas City Council has thus wanted to strengthen this sector so punished by the pandemic by showing its support. In addition to the financial amount, the Department works side by side with businessmen to facilitate this trance and to promote Mijas as a preferred tourist destination in southern Europe. “We have achieved that these businesses go back and stay, in addition to delving into the ‘off-season’ tourist that allows us to sustain the economy 365 days a year”, asserted the councilor.
In this regard, he recalled two recent actions such as the promotion of the golf brand of the city ‘Mijas, Sol y Golf’ to attract these travelers who come to the town outside of summer, as well as the actions aimed at the oriental public through guided virtual tours in different Asian languages, especially the Japanese, who are a very loyal audience to Mijas who gradually return and also do so in low season months.
“Breaking with seasonality is another goal so we can be satisfied with the forecasts that are presented to us for this summer period, since all the organizations point out that we will have better months of July, August and Septembereven, than those of 2019 ”, added Martín.
The mayor has indicated that in 2021 Mijas grew 69% in searches for ‘eBooking’ (one of the largest and busiest accommodation and travel websites in the world), as well as from the portal ‘clubrural.com’ placed the municipality as one of the 20 rural destinations on the coast preferred by its users in Spain.
In this 2022, Mijas has won the distinction of Capital of rural tourism 2022 from Malaga according to the same website. “We will continue working so that our destination continues to grow and consolidate as what it is: one of the most complete places and with the most diversified offer in Europe”, concluded the first deputy mayor.