Zamora projects itself at FITUR as "a window for travelers" with a complete range of offerings

19 January 2023

The province and its towns, Easter, the Cultural Landscape of Zamora, Benavente, Toro and Fermoselle show the best of its offer to attract visitors.

The province of Zamora, both from the City Council of the capital, as from the Provincial Council, has had an essential role in the pavilion of Castilla y León in the International Tourism Fair, FITUR. As the president of the provincial institution, Francisco José Requejo, pointed out, this wide-ranging offer places Zamora as "a window to the traveler.

Requejo made an extensive tour of the gastronomy, culture, tradition, landscape, with an essential highlight to the Sierra de la Culebra, of which he said, "we are committed to revitalize it". He also recalled, as a new offer, the Wolf Route, a 9-hour tour to enjoy this "unique" animal.

The president also thanked the "collaboration" of the City Council, as of entrepreneurs and economic agents of the tourism sector, to offer a "quality offer and the development of tourist packages, with the innovation of a new provincial tourism website".
"The tourism sector is changing and today's tourist is looking for experiences, away from the conventional and new ways to enjoy their vacations, precisely what the Tourist Board of the Provincial Council of Zamora offers through a varied offer, which allows travelers to immerse themselves in our customs, traditions, gastronomy and natural environments," explained the president of the Provincial Council of Zamora, Francisco José Requejo.

To this end, the website of the Tourist Board (www.turismoenzamora.es) has made available to visitors a section dedicated to Experiential Tourism, where they are classified by categories different Tourism Experiences.

Cultural Tourism, Ecotourism, Mycological Tourism, Rural and Active Tourism, Food and Wine Tourism, Religious Tourism, Family Tourism and Health Tourism make up the wide range of possibilities that the Zamora Provincial Council offers visitors.

"Those who access these complete tourist packages, worked together with the entrepreneurs of the sector, will live magnificent experiences that they can then share in their own social networks," said the president of the Provincial Council.

Zamora as a UNESCO "Cultural Landscape".

The Councillor for Tourism, Christoph Strieder, attends the International Tourism Fair -FITUR-, with the aim of promoting what he has compared to winning a gold medal at the Olympic Games: the candidacy of Zamora as a "Cultural Landscape" of Unesco, in a clear commitment to a more familiar and sustainable tourism. For the mayor, this "exquisite seal" has special "relevance" for the promotion of cultural property, which is why Spain treasures a considerable number of heritage sites and manages to place third in the world, to the point that UNESCO has imposed a "Stop" in the form of a moratorium for 5 years.

However, this moratorium does not mean any brake for Zamora's candidacy. Strieder explained during his speech at FITUR, where the Zamora City Council shares the stand of the Junta de Castilla y León with the Provincial Council, that the preparation of this type of candidacy takes from 5 to 10 years, and "along the way," he said, "the idea is to learn about our territory, about its values, its wealth and threats.

Christoph Strieder stressed that "Zamora Cultural Landscape" aims to highlight "the interaction between man and nature", which is what UNESCO is now interested in "observing and investigating how people work, use and modify a space with certain natural conditions: climate, geology, plants, animals...". And with that objective, the project of the City Council and the Provincial Council, promotes "the unique universal values that Zamora offers and that differentiate it from other territories".

After the words of the Councillor for Tourism, the architect Esther Prada took the floor to describe the main structures that have been inscribed in the Zamora territory: from the crossing of the Ruta de la Plata to the Duero River. "The landscape," she said, "is a cultural fact and, in the case of the Zamora border, it follows traces that are still visible: the pastures, the roads, the crops, the districts, the fenced fields, the parceling of the land...". A testimony to "activate new and old looks, awakening the awareness of a new reality to improve or restore everyday landscapes that serve as a framework for our individual and social welfare," concluded Esther Prada.

Holy Week with new itineraries

The deputy of Culture, Jesús María Prada, was in charge of presenting the novelties of the Holy Week of Zamora for 2023 which, he explained, "due to the works being carried out in the new Museum, the itineraries of the processions will undergo some modifications". Therefore, he recalled, "it will be a different Easter".

Next, the president of the Board of Holy Week, Isabel García, took the floor, who presented the two posters that will announce and promote it. In addition, she made it clear that "talking about Easter is easy for any Zamorano who lives it". She also abounded in "changes in the route, but the feeling will not be lost".

Finally, Isabel Garcia invited to visit Zamora at Easter, because "it is a welcoming people to enjoy this tradition that is emblematic of the capital of Zamora and also of its province."

Benavente, a stop on the way

The mayor of Benavente, Luciano Huerga, presented at FITUR the four tourism projects that the Benavente City Council is undertaking for 2023, with the aim, he said, of "increasing the stupendous figures that have been produced in 2022, with an increase of 71.75% in the number of tourists, mainly from EU countries.

Thus, he recalled that the first of them refers to the creation of the Caravan Area, which has already had 250 visitors in 2022. In addition, he announced that 20,000 euros will be allocated to spruce up the area to make it a strategic axis of the city.

The second is focused on promoting tourism in Benavente with the slogan "know your city. For this purpose, four free guided routes will be launched to get to know the most emblematic areas.

The third corresponds to the Tourism Sustainability Plan, intended for the period 2022-2025, with a grant of 3 million euros from the Government of Spain to "make a greener, more sustainable, digitized and more dynamic city in social networks".

It also includes the creation of the Interpretation Center 'Soledad González' as the great cultural container of Benavente, which will be the axis "on which all activity is vertebre".

And, finally, the Plan for the Improvement of Tourist Signage in the city, with an investment of 40,000 euros in 2023, as "enhancement of cultural and artistic heritage".

Toro, city of music

The mayor of Toro, Tomás del Bien, presented 'the city of music' that, throughout 2023, "will have 8 festivals for all types of audiences and musical variety". He began by highlighting the 'White Night' that, this year, is brought forward to May 6, 2023, becoming "the starting point of the entire annual program".

He also recalled the other seven festivals such as 'Toro on the Rocks', in June. The 'WildLife Festival' in July. 'Vintoro', also June with the Wine Fair. Toro Nights in August. The Emergente that moves to September, the FIMC 'Jesús López Cobos', in September. And the Zarando Folk that goes hand in hand with the Grape Harvest Festival.

Fermoselle, the village hidden in the subsoil

A unique heritage that must have the recognition in the world, so clear was the mayor of Fermoselle, José Manuel Pilo, who, along with José Luis Pascual, director general of the EGTC Duero-Douro, presented at FITUR the candidacy of Fermoselle to Material Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.

Beneath the streets of Fermoselle lies an entire route, kilometers of tunnels, 40 hectares and a thousand wineries, which has remained dormant and intact for centuries. A whole network of historic wineries, the result of the footprint left by the different settlers over time. Such unique wealth has awakened and from Fermoselle, the town of wine, have begun to work to achieve the consideration they deserve, the declaration of Fermoselle as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Zamora projects itself at FITUR as "a window for travelers" with a complete range of offerings

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