ZAS, 09/07/2024. Costa da Morte Tourism Association (CMAT) receives the support of the Provincial Council of A Coruña through the award of the grant within the aid programme aimed at tourism management bodies to improve the quality, competitiveness and tourism activities in the province of A Coruña in the year 2024.
95,520 euros out of a total budget of 119,400 euros.
The support of the provincial body is an important aid for tourism development in the Costa da Morte, as it implies an aid of 80% of the total budget of activities and actions of the CMAT for the year 2024. In this sense, the CMATs board of directors stresses the importance of the Provincial Council s annual support for the work of the organisation, which is essential for it to continue leading the management and promotion of tourism in the Costa da Morte geodestination, a benchmark for quality tourism at regional and national level.
An ambitious and exciting programme of activities
Since 2018, the CMAT has promoted an Action Plan for Tourism in the Costa da Morte that works as a roadmap to boost tourism through five major challenges: making the Costa da Morte a tourist destination recognised for its quality; having a sustainable tourism development model at an economic, environmental and social level; achieving a greater balance of tourist flows at a territorial level and throughout the year; having a more united and coordinated tourism fabric and consolidating the Costa da Morte tourism brand at a regional, national and international level.
After six years of hard work in different areas, in this year 2024 CMAT seeks to give continuity to the activities that are working successfully and effectively. Thus, the actions that are being developed and will be carried out in this year, within the framework of these grants, are the following:
- Implementation of the Tourism Quality System in Destination (SICTED), which began in 2023 with the adhesion of 35 companies of accommodation, active tourism, museums and interpretation centres and tourist information offices, and which continues this year with another 40 more, among which there are also restaurants, artisans and local craft shops. All the participants received training in the months before the summer, and will continue with advisory visits for the implementation of an improvement plan, as well as different training and networking activities from September onwards.
- Continuing to improve competitiveness in the astro-tourism sector with activities and training on improving lighting and reducing light pollution, such as the conference held at the Dolme de Dombate in June. In addition, this year, from 1 to 4 October, the 7th International Starlight Meeting will be held on the Costa da Morte, specifically in the Casa de la Cultura in Cee, bringing together national and international experts in astro-tourism, which will serve both to position the Costa da Morte as a destination and to make it available to companies, This will undoubtedly serve as an inspiration and a boost for the implementation of new initiatives of this type in our region.
- Promotion of the destination and priority tourism products through the Internet and the media. With the idea of continuing to promote the geodestination, both the management of social networks and the CMAT website and the dissemination in the media are being professionalised. Through the services of a company specialised in these fields, CMATs networks have already grown, overall, by more than 1,100 followers. The presence in the media also improved, with about fifty news items published in different newspapers in the same period. This service also launched the 1st Costa da Morte Naturally Wild Photographic Contest, open until 30 October 2024.
- Updating and improvement of the CMATs tourism promotion website, visitacostadamorte.com, which has been in the works for several months and will be launched in the coming weeks.
- New edition of the tourist map of the Costa da Morte, in which several improvements are being introduced, such as incorporating a small space for each of the CMAT member municipalities, with a proposal of up to 3 plans to do in each of them, related to nature, culture and gastronomy or festivals. In addition, the map will incorporate a QR code that will lead to the new tourism website that is being worked on, where information will be provided on the tourist companies that are members of CMAT through APTCM.
- To carry out all these activities, CMAT also has the support of a technical assistance service and an accounting consultancy service to ensure that the entity meets the necessary requirements to manage aid and taxation.
In short, 2024 is a year of progress for the development of tourism management on the Costa da Morte. This progress is translating into important news for the whole territory, such as being the venue for the VII International Starlight Astrotourism Meeting.
The public-private collaboration is being a very relevant engine of development for the Costa da Morte and the CMAT is a great example of this kind of synergies. For this reason, the support of organisations such as the Diputación de A Coruña is crucial to continue working in the right direction.
At the same time, work is being done to sign a collaboration agreement between CMAT and Turismo de Galicia for 2024, with which it is planned to set up trips for professional tourism bloggers to promote the natural and cultural heritage of the Costa da Morte, its gastronomy, crafts and the Starlight project, as well as other tourism promotion initiatives, such as the IV Tourism Meeting of the Costa da Morte, to be held in November of this year, although the venue has yet to be decided. In September, it is planned to request proposals from the private sector of the Costa da Morte to host the event, which with its fourth edition, it can be said that it is already consolidated as the great event of the union of the sector of the territory.
