Andalucia will be WTM Virtual’s Premier Partner. The sponsorship deal is part of Andalucia’s nearly €9 million international marketing campaign that features Andalusian star Antonio Banderas as an ‘ambassador’.
Alongside its high-profile Premier Partner status, the tourist board will be supporting 40 co-exhibitors from Andalucia who are taking part in WTM Virtual from 9-11 November. Andalucia’s Destination Briefing will take place on Monday 9 November at 1pm.
The regional government of Andalucia has allocated €300 million to help its tourism sector to recover, including measures to make restaurants, accommodation and other establishments safe for visitors.
Juan Marín, Tourism Minister and Vice President of the regional government, said that Andalucia’s tourism sector had been seeing record levels of growth before the pandemic, thanks to the quality of its cultural, rural, urban and beach offerings. “This Premier Partner agreement will showcase Andalucia’s varied attractions and our new safety measures to the international travel trade and media.
“We have lived through a bad dream from which we are now waking up. We are working with tourism businesses to introduce strict policies and our ‘Safety Stamp’ shows that hotels, restaurants and travel agencies comply with Covid-19 safety measures.”
The tourist board will use its Premier Partner status to promote its new international slogan – If you love to travel, you´ll love Andalucía – and other publicity material, including video messages from actor Banderas, who hails from Málaga in Andalucia.
As well as Malaga, the region offers 800km of coastline and cities such as Cádiz, Almeria and Huelva, and historical cities such as Seville, Córdoba, Granada and Jaen.
Tourism accounts for about 12% of Andalucia’s GDP and employs more than 400,000 people in the region. “As Premier Partner, we will maximise our presence with our co-exhibitors and suppliers,” added Juan Marín. “All our destinations have something special for tourists of all types and we are very excited about what is new for 2021.”
Simon Press, WTM London’s Senior Director, said: “WTM Virtual is delighted to announce Andalucia as its Premier Partner for 2020. It means Andalucia can promote its many attractions to thousands of trade buyers and media, which will help visitor numbers to recover and boost the region’s economy. Our previous Premier Partners have seen uplifts in revenue and visitor numbers thanks to the greatly enhanced profile that we can offer.”
During WTM Virtual, Andalucia will be promoting the destination through a Destination Briefing, which provides the opportunity to position the brand in front of WTM’s audience, increasing brand awareness among key players, qualified buyers and the global travel professionals.
