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The mayor defends the “happiness industry” at the presentation of the Hosbec #Yotambiénsoyturista (I am also a tourist) campaign

 

Toni Pérez and the councillor Nuria Montes point out that this initiative arises as a reaction to tourismophobia

The Mayor of Benidorm, Toni Pérez, has once again defended this morning the tourist activity and tourism as “the industry of happiness” during the presentation of the campaign promoted by the hotel employers' association Hosbec, #Yotambiénsoyturista, (I am also a tourist) which was held in the Levante beach library of the city and which was attended by the regional minister for Industry, Innovation, Trade and Tourism, Nuria Montes, as well as representatives of the entire tourist sector of the province.
This campaign, which is already present in the media of the Valencian Community, was born as a way of reacting to the tourism-phobic movement that is promoted from other places, as both the mayor and the regional minister have made clear.

Toni Pérez, in fact, has highlighted that the initiative “aims to create a link between residents and tourists and, at the same time, to promote responsible tourism”. It is a campaign that covers all areas of the Valencian Community “and that shows how tourists identify with residents”.

The mayor insisted that the city “is once again soaked by tourism, as it is every day”. “I am also a tourist, we all are. Wherever we are. Everyone is a tourist, and they do so thanks to the hospitality and generosity of a territory” said Pérez, who added that “we are tourists thanks to the welcome, we do not forget to be hospitable. And here in Benidorm we open our arms to the world and tell it that tourism is the most wonderful industry”.

In his speech, the mayor also stressed “the social sustainability of the tourism industry” and, at the provincial level, he stated that for the Costa Blanca Tourism Board “it is a pleasure to participate in the Hosbec campaign, with the support of the Ministry, because we are tourism, and we know that the world makes tourism an invaluable industry, as is the industry of happiness”. 

For her part, the councillor Nuria Montes has emphasised the objective of the campaign “as a reaction to tourismophobia” and has placed tourism as one of the great achievements of society that we are not willing to abandon”. “Tourism enriches us personally and socially” she has assured before insisting that “the messages of tourismophobia are classist”.

Nuria Montes also stressed that the campaign “reflects the hospitable spirit of the Valencian Community, which has not brought us any harm, but quite the opposite. That is why this is a campaign in favour of tourism and sustainable tourism activity.”

Finally, the councillor referred to the “open debate on the tourist tax” to emphasise that “tourists cannot be criminalised for other problems that the region has, such as economic, health or social ones”. On this point, Montes said that “we have a huge underfunding in the Community and those who now want the tourist tax have not moved a finger to solve it. They are only using demagogy to try to cover up their shame”.