l The European Tourism Indicator System Comunitat Valenciana

Alcoy C o m u n i t a t V a l e n c i a n a

Comunitat Valenciana is an extense and heterogeneous region: Located in the center of the mediterranean coast of . 542 in 3 provinces (Castellón, Valencia and ) 5,1 milion inhabitants. 22,8 millon tourists (3rd tourist destination in Spain) 500 km coast: 60 coastal tourism destinations, Sun&sea main tourism product, Tourism means 12,6% of regional GDP and of 13,4% of jobs 39.117 accommodation establishments and 385.823 beds Morella ETIs- Destination profile Peñíscola

Utiel

Within Comunitat Valenciana, we have selected 6 destinations: Gandia • 2 per province: 1 rural and one coastal. Alcoy • SICTED destinations

Morella Peñíscola Utiel Gandia Alcoi Benidorm

Inhabitants 2.772 8.000 12.450 78.543 61.772 72.911 Density hab/km2 6 101 52 1.291 475 1.873 Tourists/year 132.722 220.967 1.043 229.286 25.986 1.804.081 Stay 2,2 4,4 1,5 4,4 2,1 5.8 Nº accommodation 86 2.370 20 1.572 36 6.378 establishments Location CASTELLÓN CASTELLÓN VALENCIA VALENCIA ALICANTE ALICANTE Rural Coastal Rural Coastal Rural Coastal Main tourist product Heritage Family Enotourism Family Heritage Mass tourism Short-break Heritage Seasonal Short-break Seasonal Morella ETIs- Destination profile Peñíscola

Utiel

Gandia

Alcoy Benidorm ETIs- Data collection and entry The easiest indicators to collect:

The ones in coastal destinations and Aalborg / Local Agenda 21 schemes Sustainable destination management indicators. Basic indicators.

A. Sustainable destination management 90 B. Economic value C. Social and Cultural impact 78 80 D. Environmental impact 69 70 67 64 Basic indicators

80 60 56 56 56 56 Optative indicators 70 50 50 50 70 50 46 63 59 59 60 56 38 40 36 36 48 3333 33 50 40 30 40 33 22 22 30 30 20 15 22 12 20 10 7 7 13 13 10

0 0 Morella Peñíscola Utiel Gandia Alcoi Benidorm Morella Peñíscola Utiel Gandia Alcoi Benidorm ETIs- Limitations to the study

• Data collection difficult in small scale destinations, without tourism management depts. • Not all indicators are applicable to every type of destination in the same way. • Non comparability with other destinations when data is measured locally. • Bias in the results of data collected from existing sources: specific customer satisfaction surveys of tourism establishments which do not aply to the whole destination. • Non measurability of subjective indicators: (A.4, B.5.1; B.5.1.1; D.7.1.1; D.8.1). • Difficult description (B.2.1.2; C.3.1.1; C.4.1.1; D.1.1; D.1.2.1), unknown indicator: (A.2.1.1) or inaplicable ( • Some indicators are not possible at local scale (B.1.1.1; C.2.1; C.2.1.1; C.2.1.2; D.5.1; D.6.1 ) • Extra work and cost: Most of the indicators are not being measured and would require new surveys and research (e.g. A.1.1; A.3.1; A.3.1.1; A.4; A.4.1.1; B.1.1.2; B 1.1.3; B.2.1.1; B.3.1.2; B.5.1; B.5.2.1; C.1.1.1; C.3.1; C.3.2.1; D.1.1.1; D.2.1; D.3.1.1; D.5.1.1; D.5.1.2; D.5.1.3; D.6.1.1; D.6.1.2). • Some indicators refer to mandatory requirements in Spain and, as they will always score 100% they do not give information about performance (B.4.1; C.4.1; D.4.1.1). • Graphs show incomplete when there is an indicator with no data. Suggestions for improvement

• Set specific indicators for main types of destinations: coastal (sand quality, higiene, label shemes) / rural / urban. • Further clarify what it means tourism business (do they include tourist shops, tourist information offices, adventure tourism, cellars, beach services?). • Refer indicators to “inhabitants” and not to “residents”. • Propose a methodology to measure number of tourists/visitors locally. • Redefine subjective indicators and turn them more quantifiable. • Include further climate change indicators, not only energy saving schemes. • Eliminate indicators whose fulfilment is mandatory. • Add new columns in “destination indicators”: source, methodology, etc. • Settle “target objectives” according to trends (2 consecutive years minimum). l The European Tourism Indicator System Comunitat Valenciana

Alcoy