The Mancomunidad de Municipios del Almanzora is working with the towns of the region of Los Vélez on a supra-regional tourism project that will allow them to access funds from the General Plan for Sustainable Tourism in Andalusia (META 2027) promoted by the Ministry of Tourism of the Junta de Andalucía.
The lines of this Tourism Plan are already beginning to be defined in the first working meetings, the last one held last week in Olula del Río, with mayors and tourism entrepreneurs. “We have already come a long way, because we have already made the diagnosis of previous plans for which we competed within the General Plan for Sustainable Development of the Junta, to which we presented ourselves on three occasions, and we never managed to get these funds to Almería,” complains the President of the Association of Municipalities of Almanzora, Antonio Ramón Salas, who is leading this project in the north of the province to benefit some thirty inland municipalities.
This project has major differences with previous calls, and that is why the different agents involved are very optimistic; the first, the existence of funds, since the META Plan has, according to the Delegate of Tourism in Almeria, Vicente Garcia, a budget of 717 million euros with a 2027 horizon, of which 546 are provided by the Andalusian Government and the rest comes from European funds.
On this occasion, they will also present a project that unites the strengths of both regions; the Natural Park of Sierra María – Los Vélez, the Sierra de Los Filabres, the Marquisate of Los Vélez, the City of Culture of Olula, Industrial Tourism, the meat sector, its great architectural heritage, and a long list of resources that they hope to enhance with this ambitious tourism project.
“The General Plan for Sustainable Tourism in Andalusia is a historic opportunity for us and we are not going to miss it. We hope to have our project ready for the month of March, when the first lines for which we want to compete will be published,” adds Salas, about a tourism initiative which they want to be sustainable and this time, yes, can count on public funds from the Junta de Andalucía which will generate employment and wealth in the north of the province.