The Principality and the Government of Spain, through the Secretary of State for Tourism and the Regional Ministry of Culture, respectively, and the town councils of Onís and Somiedo have signed today agreements for the execution of the tourism sustainability plans of both councils.
The Secretary of State for Tourism, Fernando Valdés; the Regional Minister for Culture, Linguistic Policy and Tourism, Berta Piñán, and the mayors of Onís, José Manuel Abeledo, and Somiedo, Belarmino Fernández, signed the official certificates validating the implementation of the proposals selected by the Sectorial Commission for Tourism in June 2020, during a ceremony held this morning in Laboral Ciudad de la Cultura.
The projects will be financed by the three administrations, so that the central government and the Asturian government will bear 40% of the cost each, while the local councils will assume the remaining 20%. The Onís proposal has a budget of 800,000 euros and the Somiedo proposal is for 1,870,000 euros. In total, the Government of Asturias allocates 1,100,000 euros to both initiatives.
The Somiedo Tourism Sustainability Plan is articulated in four axes: the recovery and enhancement of the natural and ethnographic heritage for its tourist use, the improvement of the offer and the creation of sustainable products, and the promotion and commercialisation of the sustainable tourist destination. The Town Council of the municipality will contribute 374,000 euros.
The Onís plan, Ecotourism in the Picos de Europa, includes five lines of action: the creation of ecotourism products based on natural and cultural resources, the promotion of local products, the improvement of environmental behaviour, the training and management of the plan itself, and promotional actions. The Onís Town Council will devote 176,000 euros to this project.
Social and cultural revitalisation
The councillor Berta Piñán explained that these plans «should not be seen exclusively as tourist projects, because they have the vocation to become motors of economic activity in rural areas and have an impact on the life of their inhabitants and on the social and cultural dynamics of Onís and Somiedo».
According to him, both projects have in common the vocation to protect the resources and products of their territorial area, the reduction of the environmental impact of tourist activity, the control of visitor flows and the promotion of sustainable mobility.
A further six town councils applied for this first call for applications for the Tourism Sustainability Plans in Destinations Programme: Castropol, Valdés, Lena, Cabrales, Oviedo and Cangas de Onís, as well as four associations of municipalities: Comarca Oscos-Eo, Cinco Villas – Comarca Bajo Nalón, Comarca de Avilés and Comarca de la Sidra.
The Sectoral Conference on Tourism held last March approved a new ordinary call for this programme, which will be financed by the Secretary of State for Tourism with 23 million euros from the General State Budget.
Prior to the signing, the Secretary of State for Tourism, Fernando Valdés, held a meeting with various officials from the tourism sector, which was also attended by the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Graciela Blanco.
The day is rounded off with a visit by the Secretary to Onís, where he will visit the Picos de Europa campsite, the Oscura cave and the Demúes cheese factory.
