Basque tourism recovers its pulse and exceeds 4 million visits in 2022 for the first time

Euskaraz irakurri: 2022an lau milioi bisitariein langa gaindituta, indarberrituta dago Euskadiko turismoa

The Minister of Tourism, Commerce and Consumption, Javier Hurtadohas made today an assessment of tourism in the Basque Country for the year 2022, a year that he described as “the one of the Recovery of tourism in Euskadi”, since, for the first time 4 million visits have been exceeded in one year.

In the absence of official data for December, the tourism in the Basque Country has grown by 10% from January to November compared to the same period of 2019, highlighting the recovery of the international tourismwith a growth of 11.8%the tourism that suffered the most during the pandemic with falls of 34% in summer.

The counselor recalled the hard times of the pandemic, highlighting “the strength of the Basque tourism sector, the effort of its professionals and the commitment to continue supporting and stimulating our tourism”. Hurtado has pointed out that “with this scenario we come to Fitur proud of our professionals, aware of the great work they have done and with the conviction that we must continue to bet on our sustainable tourism model that allows us to continue growing in a sustained and balanced way”.

Precisely, Hurtado has presented today how the participation of the Basque Country will be in fitur, one of the most important international tourism fairs that will take place in January 18-22 in Madrid. Along with the Counselor was Daniel Solana, director of Basquetour, the Basque Tourism Agency, who gave details of the stand and the activities and presentations that will take place during the 5 days.

Euskadi will participate with a 900 meter stand squares that resembles a theater and that gathers the varied tourist offer with the central theme of gastronomy: “It is a newly designed stand that, like a theater, becomes the great stage of gastronomy. It combines the strength of our gastronomy with that commitment for 2023 to recover long-distance markets, giving a priority place at the start of the Tour de France from Euskadi, an event that will be one of the most relevant international business cards for the Basque Country and that will have its own space at the stand”, explained the counselor.

The Minister wanted to highlight that in this edition Euskadi will award the first 3 distinctions to regions such as Smart Tourist Destinations (DTI), Goierri, Uribe and Rioja Alavesa. “We have been pioneers in adapting this DTI methodology, together with the Secretary of State for Tourism, from the municipalities to the regions, so that they will serve as an example to other Autonomous Communities that want to apply it. During 2023 we will continue this work with at least 5 regions more”, has advanced.

In addition, as Hurato explained, the Basque Country is going to receive the award for Best Supra-municipal Public Administration in the application of the SICTED quality systems from the Secretary of State for Tourism. “These are some examples of the work carried out by the Basque Country in favor of the quality, sustainability and competitiveness of our sector, which has made us leaders and which we want to reflect in this edition of Fitur 2023”.

Image of the Euskadi Stand at Fitur. Irekia.