The Provincial Council of Castellón will lay the foundations this 2021 of what will be the new management model of the gastronomic brand par excellence of the province: ‘Castelló Ruta de Sabor’. The Provincial Tourism Board has been working for months on its redefinition “so that it is not only understood as a seal of food quality, but also as an attractive tourist product at national and international level that creates wealth and employment in our regions”.

This was stated by the provincial deputy of Tourism, Virginia Martí, who said that this decision to strengthen ‘Castelló Ruta de Sabor’ “is taken by the will of this ‘New Council’ to work and deepen, through gastroexperiences, in the differentiation of our tourism product so that we can compete with better guarantees to other destinations”.

“Updating ‘Castelló Ruta de Sabor’ is a sign of our firm conviction in this project. We are confident that our product is ready to compete at high levels and we want to explore it, so in the future there will be profound changes in this brand that will make it the star of our commitment to ‘experience tourism'”.

To carry out this objective, the Provincial Tourism Board will hire over the coming months the assistance services that will capture on paper what will be the new ‘Castelló Ruta de Sabor’. In the 2021 budget, an item of 175,000 euros has been set aside for this purpose.

THREE LINES OF ACTION

Although the study is still in a preliminary phase, Virginia Martí has announced that this renewal will have three main plans that will serve as a guide to materialize the change in the brand. The first of these will be a gastronomic tourism master plan, which will emphasize the improvement of both internal and external communication and digital marketing so that ‘Castelló Ruta de Sabor’ enters strongly in the list of gastronomic tourist destinations of reference. To this document will be added another to raise awareness and encourage the accession of new companies and entities and a program of advice and technical assistance will be developed to support the adhering firms in their growth processes.

REINFORCEMENT OF NETWORK PRESENCE

On the other hand, the areas of Rural Development and Tourism are jointly working on the development of a powerful online marketing platform to help position Castellón’s gastronomic tourism products and experiences in the digital market, thus promoting the digitization of both sectors and helping the agri-food sector to penetrate global distribution and marketing markets.

THE TRANSITION TO TOURISM, A SUCCESS

Virginia Martí has been convinced that this mutation of ‘Castelló Ruta de Sabor’ will be a success, as it is already being since this brand was taken over by Tourism coinciding with the start of the new legislature. Since then the increase of interest to be part of the brand has increased significantly.

Marti recalled that tourism is one of the essential legs of the provincial economy and that “from the Provincial Council we will do everything possible to return to give us joy as before”.