‘You deserve Spain’ campaign revitalised

Having opened before the rest of the European destinations, Spain became the hotspot European getaway for the GCC travellers. This year, once again Spain will be on ground at the Arabian Travel Market to lure more guests towards the destination. Daniel Rosado, Director Spain Tourism Board GCC shares with TRAVTALK.

Shehara Rizly

It is great to hear that you will be once again exhibiting at ATM, could you share with us how important it is to be there, especially after the pandemic?

We want to showcase all that Spain offers in terms of experiences. After two difficult years where travel has been badly affected by the pandemic, we see summer in the horizon with high expectations, and good trends of people wanting to visit Spain and enjoy all that our lovely country offers, and where you can experience life together with family and friends.

What do you plan to present at ATM this year?

We will be promoting Spain as a destination which is safe, friendly and offering a vast variety of activities where to enjoy a hassle free holiday. We will present various destinations and also continue to promote our current campaign “You deserve Spain”. In addition to this, we will be signing up with an online platform   for a campaign to promote Spain this summer.

Will there be partners who will join you from Spain? If so, could you share about them?

We have around 30  partners from across Spain representing various regions, DMCs, Hotels etc. The participants are  Andalusia, Costa del Sol, Catalunya & Tenerife among destinations,  DMCs – Travellers Operador Turístico, Smartworks Events, Spain Travel Express, Across Spain, BVIP, itravex, Nuba Incoming Spain, Spain Essential Travel, Restel & Avoris. Under hotels, we have Palladium Group of Hotels, VP Plaza España Design, Gran Hotel Ibiza, Kempinski Hotel Bahía, Guadalpín Hotel Banús, Don Carlos Resort and Alanda Hotel Marbella, LU&BO Hotels, Shopping Outlets – Value Retail (La Roca Village &  Las Rozas Village )  and El Corte Ingles, Europamundo and Rail Europe among others.

In terms of business and network relationships, what will be your expectations from ATM this year?

We had relatively good numbers from GCC in 2021 despite the fact that the country opened up only in June. We are positive that the trend continues and with the ease in restrictions for GCC travellers and the seasonal summer flights to Malaga other than the regular Madrid – Barcelona routes, we are expecting a significant increase in the number of travellers this year as well all in line with  increased interactions with the travel trade from GCC region.

Summer is around the corner, what will you do specially for the UAE and KSA markets?

We will continue to educate and create awareness through marketing campaigns and events to B2B and B2C, for which we received a good response last year. We will have Fam trips from these regions and we will also be launching the updated version of our Spain specialist programme, which will enable the travel trade to learn more about Spain and use this information in designing and customising their travellers itineraries and travel requirements to Spain accordingly among other promotional activities.