Toni Pérez claims after the Assembly of the AMT formulas for tourist municipalities to access adequate financing.

Closing his participation in the conferences that have taken him to Adeje, Tenerife, for the General Assembly of the Alliance of Sun and Beach Tourist Municipalities and the Meeting with Associations, the mayor of Benidorm, Toni Pérez, has highlighted before the Minister Reyes Maroto , the key issues of the financing of the Tourist Municipalities and the proactive participation in the promotional campaigns of Turespaña in 2022.
Pérez has pointed out to the minister and to the mayors of the municipalities of the AMT Sol y Playa and the Association of Tourist Municipalities of the Canary Islands and authorities attending the Meeting of Associations of Tourist Municipalities of Spain the "work, effort and generosity" of the municipalities of the AMT, "pioneer destinations and spearhead at the forefront and strength of the sector" Tourism that work "on a day-to-day basis to improve the sector that is our main industry."
Regarding yesterday's session, in which he left the presidency of the AMT -which he assumed in January 2020 and has led until yesterday, during the pandemic and PostCovid stage-, the mayor of Benidorm moved to the head of the ministerial department the most outstanding issues dealt with in the Assembly on Monday afternoon: “to arbitrate proactive and purposeful formulas to access financing” since, he recalled, “with the Law of local finances, structurally, we do not fit ”.
Toni Pérez pointed out that none of the eight municipalities of the AMT, which add up to more than 63 million hotel overnight stays a year, has that consideration of 'tourist municipality' for that law, planning, as a solution, that through the next agreement with the Ministry , "exploring and make clear technical and academic diagnoses of the reality that everyone knows, looking for the fastest way to reach a solution to our under-financing that must be definitive." Pérez insisted on a solution because "in a pandemic, our difficulties have become greater" and recalled "the great social component" of an industry such as tourism "that cannot be relocated and redistributes wealth like few others."
As yet another objective to be fulfilled, Pérez highlighted  AMT's commitment to sustainability, insisting on the development that has already begun about “studies that clearly radiograph the sustainability indicators, a component that empowers the whole of the country in an area that it is taking on more relevance ”.
The mayor of Benidorm, in his speech, was blunt in a final and decisive question before the minister, stating, regarding the Next Generation Funds, that "the focus is the center" and not be directed at tourist municipalities, asking that "you can participate in future calls." The municipalities of the AMT, such as Benidorm -said Pérez-, "have to be part of the process."
Pérez expressed the general feeling regarding what he described as "intermediation of those who are neither destination nor brand" and that in the end they have weighed in the award, ignoring that these funds have the task of "going to tractor projects, locomotive and lever projects" of some municipalities that have always “contributed the generosity of tourism” to serve other sectors.
Pérez concluded his intervention by proposing for the next and first Turespaña campaign in 2022 to work on it from public-public and public-private collaboration to focus on the great destinations and their recovery, "as a driving effect of the country", oriented "a collaborative campaign to add brand and obtain return ”, emphasizing the“ leading and proactive role of pioneer destinations that contribute all their experience in this process ”

About the Alliance of Sun and Beach Tourist Municipalities (AMT)

The Alliance of Sun and Beach Tourist Municipalities (AMT) was born in 2017 from the initiative of the 8 pioneering tourist destinations in Spain: Adeje, Arona, Benidorm, Calvià, Lloret de Mar, Salou, San Bartolomé de Tirajana and Torremolinos, whose uniqueness tourism and commitment to the digitization of the sector, sustainability, accessibility, and cooperation between destinations, represents a set of common strengths that will allow them to maintain their leadership position in the sector. The Technical Secretariat of the Alliance is managed by Instituto Tecnológico Hotelero (ITH).
The new president, elected in the Assembly yesterday, is José Miguel Rodríguez Fraga, mayor of Adeje.