Roberto Diez Pisonero*
Received: ???? 2010 | Accepted: ???? 2010
Abstract
Tourist aciviy in Seville right now consitues one of the fundamenal pillars of the economic, social and cultural progress of the ciy. Seville’s imporance lies not only in its pleniful monumenal and arisic heriage, but also in the rest of the characerisics of the ciy that come together to form the tourist product (inrasructure, accommodaion, caering, shops, recreaional areas…).
Its diversiied oferings in other areas such as business, shopping, gasronomy and golf, in addiion to its excellent posiion in the world tourist sysem as well as its image as a tourist desinaion and its inernaional projecion, have turned Seville, the Andalusian capial, into one of the biggest tourist meropolis in the south of Europe.
his paper aempts to provide a beer undersanding of the phenomenon and the complexiy of urban tourism using a successful case as an example. To that efect, using a methodology based on the com-pilaion, ilraion and proper organizaion of informaion, it presents an analysis of the acions difer-ent adminisraions have aken to beer the posiioning of Seville in the global tourism indusry.
he analysis focuses on two aspects of the rise of Seville as a successful tourist aracion: the irst, the diferent sraegies employed to reine the tourist product, promoion, commercializaion, planning, markeing, qualiy and susainabiliy; and second, the srengthening of the ransport inrasructure that added dynamism to this Spanish ciy. hrough this analysis, the paper complements exising lit-erature on the topic by adding to our knowledge of the tourist indusry.
Keywords: Urban and susainable tourism, sraegic planning, promoion mechanisms, ransport inrasructures, Seville (Spain).
TURIZAM
Volume 15, Issue 1 26-39 (2011)
Actuation and Promotion Mechanisms
of Urban Tourism:
The Case of Seville (Spain)
Introduction
Tourism has been conceptualised in many diferent ways within the discipline of social sci-ence. In contemporary sociey, tourism represents through its content and role, “a disinc-ive domain of aciviy, an essenial component of the economical and social life for a grow-ing number of world counries, counries that see in their own tourgrow-ing potenial a real wealth generator” (Popescu and Corbus, 2010).
Tourism is considered irst of all a “recreaion form besides other aciviies and formulas of spending the leisure ime” (Holloway, 1994). According to this author, tourism is a “com-plex aciviy, with a mulitude of ronts, with signiicant economical loading, posiioned at the intersecion of more branches and sectors of economy; all these ind their relecion in the variey of points of view regarding the content of tourism concept and the adjacent con-cepts” (Holloway, 1994).
he global world in which we are inserted has greatly facilitated the movement of the peo-ple and, consequently, of tourists who see now, beter than never, the possibiliy of being able to discover the idiosyncrasy and speciiciy of the ciies that populate the world. hat is, here, there, everywhere, tourism is a well-established urban realiy.
Today, urban tourism has become a decisive factor in the rebirth of ciies. herefore, urban developments, parimonial, architectural and funcional recovery of urban eniies have become the focal point of many development eforts. hat is why it is said that urban tourism, if correctly planned, developed and managed, “may create advantages and bene-its both to urban communiies and overall sociey” (Iordache and Cebuc, 2009). In others words, tourism, in general, but especially the urban kind, consitutes an important back-bone and a revitalizing tool of our ciies.
he most recent rends and forecasing studies by the World Trade Organizaion (WTO) indicate that ciies will coninue to be in high demand by tourists of all sorts, and the prob-lems associated with the handling of these tourists will have to be more systemaically tack-led by all paries concerned.
herefore, ciies face a double challenge, described by the Conference on “Tourism and the Ciy: he challenge of Sustainabiliy” as: Firstly, they have to be able to respond to the expectaions and needs of the growing number of tourists who are aracted to their rich and varied array of cultural, business, entertainment, shopping, sports and other arac-ions; furthermore, they need to coninuously renovate and improve such faciliies in order to maintain their share in the compeiive tourism market and the beneits resuling rom it.
Secondly, ciies have to ensure that tourism is developed and managed in such a way that it beneits the resident populaion, does not conribute to the deterioraion of the urban envi-ronment but rather to its enhancement, and does not become a inancial burden to the local authoriy” (Conference on “Tourism and the Ciy: he challenge of Sustainabiliy” Madrid, 1999).
In this realiy, the diferent Spanish Adminisraions play a crucial role since with the State of the Autonomies, tourist maters are decenralized thus allowing the Autonomous Communiies and other adminisraive states to adopt responsibiliies related to tourism.
For this reason, in a tourist ciy, while cultural heritage is an important part of the prod-uct ofered to tourists it cannot be the only one. As Moragas has indicated, “selling the past in its diferent forms is one of the principal claims of tourist markeing” (Romero Moragas, 2004). Nevertheless, as we will see later, an important current idea is to consciously “place a value” on all this material and immaterial parimony.
It is within this dynamic context that the following secions address the acions and pro-moional mechanisms undertaken by several adminisraions to beter posiion Seville with-in the tourist with-indusry.
What the Tourism in Seville Means
he tourist aciviy in Seville consitutes at present, without any doubt, one of the fundamen-tal pillars of the economic, social and cultural progress of the ciy, that is, a forceful realiy which has a wide impacion any of the ields of civil life.
Its importance stems rom not only the pleniful monumental and arisic heritage of the ciy, but also in the other aspects that make up the tourist product (inrasructures, housing, catering, rade, recreaion areas …).
Nowadays, tourism represents about 11 % of the GDP in the economy of the ciy, which gives an idea of its enormous relevancy. However, its impact on the socio-economic situaion of Seville is enormous given that the muli-direcional relaions so ypical of this economic segment lead it to include many other sectors -either in a major or minor way- such as rade, ransport, agricultural indusries, consrucion, culture, cratwork and a wide set of servic-es (Consorium Tourism Seville, 2008).
he excellent posiioning of the ciy in the tourist world system as well as, the srategic importance of this segment in the economy and employment of Seville are a realiy.
he spectacular growth registered in this sector takes place because of the tourist indus-ry that represents Seville: alive, agile, compeiive and with a clear projecion of the future. Hence, many authors agree in airming that we are in the presence of “one of the principal tourist desinaions of the world” (Marchena and Repiso, 1999).
Its compeiiveness in the domesic and internaional markets is based on an image and on a name universally known and recognized for centuries by the singular character of its celebraions and heritage, which marks an authenic reference to many other ciies that they ry to accede to posiions of privilege as the one that Seville enjoys.
On this solid base, over the last decade, a sructure of the tourist product that is very efecive and of high qualiy, in the services, in the housings and in the variey of the tour-ist ofer has been consructed. But besides all this, “tourism has a ranscendental incident in an intangible factor as important as it is the image of the ciy, its exterior projecion and, as a result, its posiioning in the world system of big ciies” (Town Council Seville, 2006).
Courses of Action in Tourist Matters
Diversiication of the ofer
Seville owns an important tourist binomial: monumental heritage plus radiional culture. Two principal aracions idenify the ciy: on the one hand, the cathedral, the Forress, the Tower of the Gold, the palaces and buildings of government, its churches and basilicas; and on the other, the Holy Week, the Fair of April, the bullighing, the lamenco, etc … Nev-ertheless, the ciy has been able to adapt to the needs of the 21st century by diversifying its tourist ofering as consumer interests evolve.
Business tourism. Integrated into the network of the Spanish Convenions Bureau, Seville ofers the venues necessary to host major meeings and high-level conferences. Both the Exhibiions and Congresses Palace of the Ciy and El Palenque, with 30,000 and 9,000 m2 respecively, each host more than one hundred congresses, exhibiions, fairs, symposiums and professional meeings, thus making Seville one of the principal desinaions of business tourism in Spain (www.ibes.es).
Gasronomic tourism. he gasronomic tourism, in constant growth in Spain, also leaves its mark on the ciy of Seville. Without a doubt, Sevillian gasronomy is one of the richest in Spanish food, characterized by its variey and its qualiy. Sevillian gasronomy is deined by its famous “tapas,” but also includes the Andalusian “gazpacho”, the Sevillian “ensaladil-la”, Sevillian veal, and the “pringá”. In Seville, eaing is not only an act it is a cultural ritual.
he Associaion of Hotel and Catering Business, with the moto “Qualiy guarantee”, undertakes the markeing of Sevillian restaurants and hotels in a coninuous process of adjustment to new demands, the inclusion of new cultures, desires and needs of its clients. At every moment, these establishments ofer the best culinary elaboraions and ensure qual-iy in the products and the food used, as well as perfect service and riendly reatment, all at very compeiive prices (www.visiingsevilla.com/turismgasronomico).
Shopping tourism. Seville has turned into an important fashion cenre in the past few years and boasts local tailors of the calibre of Victorio and Lucchino or Toni Benítez, as well as with important themaic insituions as the Andalusian Center of Fashion.
In addiion, the ciy ofers radiional establishments where tourists can buy anything rom crats and collecibles in local shops to sophisicated designer items in malls. he vari-ey of establishments create an atmosphere of possibiliies available to the visitor who can choose rom a aricles rom Old Town, popular ceramics in Triana, the “bargains” of the sreet markets and the neighbourhood of the “Nervión”, where the malls, duy-ree shops, and the irst signatures of fashion reside (www.turismodesevilla.org).
River tourism. Located 80 kilomeres rom the river mouth of the Guadalquivir, the port of Seville is the only luvial commercial port that exists in Spain, with terminuses, moor and wharves all along the way, in the very heart of Seville, up unil the terminus of cruises and sports ports. Its projecion is simultaneously Mediterranean and Atlanic, a combinaion that makes it a very important logisical and commercial point.
he ciy of Seville and the Port of Seville complement each other. Because of the tour-ist aracions of Seville, the Port of Seville has turned into regular port-of-call for cruises that each year choose the Andalusian Capital as a preferenial desinaion, either because of its mariime routes or as an enryway into the ciy. he boom of this aciviy and the devel-opment of the Pier/ Wharf with the new system of cruises further promote the integraion of the Port in the Ciy of Seville resuling in increases tourist aciviy (www.apsevilla.org).
In this context, Seville enjoys one of Europe’s best courses, he Royal Club of Golf of Seville, headquarters of the World Cup 2004. Designed by Spanish golfer Jose Maria Olazábal, it presents a demanding tour very valued by professional players and amateurs. In addiion, the Club has unsurpassed faciliies that greatly enrich its sports opportuniies and turn it into a suitable place for the enjoyment of family leisure. Also, its proximiy to Oro-mana’s Nature Reserve makes it very aracive as a complement to eco and cultural tourism (www.sevillagolf.com).
Idiomaic tourism (as a sub segment of cultural tourism). he Spanish language is a tour-ist resource with enormous potenial. It is posiioned as the second most used language of internaional communicaion and the fourth most oten spoken around the world (Insitute Cervantes, 2009). Hence, interest in Spanish as a second language coninues to increase in numerous counries of the old and the new world. he importance of the Spanish language as a tourisic resource and its enormous potenial in Spain is already a realiy as exempliied by the increasing number of students of Spanish, as well as the burgeoning ofer of Spanish classes and schools.
Nevertheless, language tourists not only decide what course to study, but in which des-inaion to do so. It is in this decision process that Sevillian culture plays a crucial role since many of these students decide to come to the ciy for the important material and immaterial legacy that exists inside the meropolis (Prados, 2001). In this sense, the synergies between the tourist and linguisic poliies posiion Seville as one of the principal desinaions in which to learn the language of Cervantes in Spain.
Adequacy of the tourist product
Tourist urban signposing. he town council, with the aim to facilitate walking around the ciy as well as to pinpoint the locaion of the principal tourist aracions of the ciy has decid-ed to undertake acions to improve pdecid-edesrian tourist signposing with standardizdecid-ed direct-ing panels with informaion in diferent languages.
Pedesrianizaion of the historical cenre. Since the year 2003, the ciy has been partak-ing in these ypes of works in the sreets borderpartak-ing the downtown area. he aim is to mini-mize the impact of raic in the tourist zone and to reinforce the role of the tourist.
Renovaion of the Oice of Atenion to the Tourist and establishment of new Oices of Informaion throughout the whole ciy to address any incident that could arise: necessary informaion, defence of the tourist, etc. In addiion, they have ried to change the orienta-ion programs ofered by these cenres rom simply an “informaorienta-ion lealet” to the inclusorienta-ion of audio-visual technologies to permit the tourist to interpret Seville realiy. herefore, the oices were redesigned and the contents of orientaion materials were improved.
Lighing enclave and monumental sets. For the adequacy and embellishment of the tour-ist product, the Town Council has developed measures for srategic lighing on and around the principal monumental elements. he aim is the praise/extolment and embellishment of the principal milestones during the Sevillian night.
New cultural heritage on a symbolic and emblemaic scale. In order to accentuate the uniqueness and ideniy of the ciy in the Spanish and European tourist context, the consruc-ion of one-of-a-kind buildings that idenify the ciy had been commissconsruc-ioned to renowned architects, among them: Calarava’s ulramodern bridge or Rafael Moneo’s new internaion-al airport. Likewise, in the year 2008, the works of a resideniinternaion-al neighborhood were started thanks to the “galacic ones” of the current architecture, among them, the Frenchman Jean Nouvel, the Briish Norman Foster and the Japanese Arata Isozak.
Creation of new products
Apart rom the diferent measures undertaken by the Town Council in search of the adequa-ion of the tourisic product, Seville has modernized and become more compeiive through an ofering of new products, among which stand out the following:
• Seville Card. A new municipal mechanism to simulate tourist aciviy, this card allows the tourist to discover the ciy and to save money through beneits such as: ree access to the majoriy of museums and monuments of the ciy, unlimited use of the public ransportaion, etc. (www.sevillacard.es).
• Channel for tourist informaion. It is a quesion of a plaform of tourist television, similar to themaic television, whose format alone appears in the European ciies of Glasgow and London. It broadcasts rom the Internet and its website is www.turis-mosevilla.tv. On this channel, it is possible to view a complete gridiron of program-ming integrated by diferent tourist secions. According to its creators, it combines the “visual wealth” of television programming with the absence of “borders” and the “interacion” that the Internet provides, “being able to adapt the emission to every user”.
Development of joint programs (NETWORKS)
he integraion in networks consitutes a management insrument of increasing importance as well as an area for the generaion of shared knowledge and an eicient route of interna-ional projecion. Among others, Seville takes part in the following networks of ciies, linked directly or indirectly to tourist aciviy:
Figure 1 Adequacy of the tourist product
a) Tourist urban Signpostingg; b) Renovation Oice of Attention to the Tourist; c) Vanguardist architecture Renowned architects; d) Lighting enclave and monumental sets
• Network of ciies “Spain Convenion Bureau”. heir fundamental aim is to promote the exchange of experiences and informaion of the tourist sector among the munici-paliies that form the secion as well as to realize acions directed at the joint naional and internaional promoion of the ciies that compose it (www.scb.es).
• Network of “cathedral ciies”. his is characterized by acing together in the promo-ion and defence of urban development, historical and cultural heritage of the munic-ipaliies that shape it, as well as to establish policies of exchanges to facilitate joint planning of image difusion (www.ciudadescatedralicias.org).
• Network of “Ciies of the Route of the Silver”. his network is established on a ra-diional axis of communicaion of the Spanish west. It consitutes a rich and varied iinerary, which possesses several ciies named as part of Heritage of Humaniy and which represent the world-class cultural and tourist potenial of the Iberian Penin-sula and the European Union. It favors joint acion in the defense and promoion of its tourisic, historical, cultural and economical resources (www.rutadelaplata.com). • Network of “ciies AVE”. It facilitates and propiiates ruiful collaboraion for the
development and tourisic promoion of desinaions integrated through the perspec-ive of ciies connected by high speed rain. Its slogan: “Nine ciies waiing to meet you. Follow a route consructed for the 21st century (that will carry you rom Andalu-cía to Cataluña, passing through Casilla-La Mancha, Madrid and Aragón). Discover the variey, the taste and the excellence. Welcome to the AVE ciies. Now we are clos-er to you” (www.redciudadesave.es).
• Network of “ciies of the Cinema”. Paricipants promote the cooperaion between the town halls to improve their posiioning as locaions for audio-visual producions. he network integrates the eforts of the ciies to realize joint acions, in search of promo-ion (paricipapromo-ion in events like cinema fesivals or markets) or inancing (www.ciu-dadesdecine.es).
• Network of “Ciies of the Music of the UNESCO”. It allows sharing of experienc-es, professional raining and technical know-how on a worldwide scale. In addiion, it facilitates the reinforcement of local capaciies and promotes the diversiy of ofer-ing of cultural products on the domesic and internaional markets, the creaion of employment and economic and social development (www.unesco.org).
• Network of ciies “EUROCITIES”. his network was born with the will to take part acively in the consrucion of the united Europe and, to this end, it acts as an advo-cate in European insituions and takes part in the decision process in the areas that directly afect the ciies (www.eurociies.eu).
• Network of ciies “Heritage of Humaniy”. his is a network that operates in the defense of the historical and cultural heritage of the declared Heritage of Humaniy ciies. he case of Seville is unusual because not the whole ciy is declared as Heritage of the Humaniy, but three of its big symbols are: the Cathedral, the Forress and the File of the Indies (www.ciudadesparimonio.org).
Promotion and commercialization of the tourist product
Cultural activities
• Flamenco’s biennial show: Seville, the capital of lamenco, hosts the most important lamenco fesival of the world, known as he Biennial Show. Its principal aim is to teach people how to recognize and beter understand this arisic syle.
• Opera and symphonic orchesra: hese are two of the most relevant cultural events of the Sevillian capital. Of recognized and valued presige inside and out of our borders, they have been given awards on many occasions.
• Celebraion of fesivals of naional and internaional relevance, Among them, the fol-lowing ones stand out:
‒ Fesival of European cinema of Seville,
‒ Internaional Fesival Seville Between Cultures, ‒ Internaional Fesival of Arts of Seville,
‒ Internaional Fesival of heare and scenic Arts of Seville, ‒ Internaional Fesival Spoken Word, Movies
• he meeing place for the development of fairs on diferent subject mater: ‒ FAC. Fair of Contemporary Art.
‒ SIMOF. Internaional Fashionable Flamenco Fair. ‒ SICAB. Internaional Horse Show.
‒ FMT. Bullighing World Fair.
‒ MUNARCO. Naional Conreres’ Crats Show. • Major holidays (Holy Week, Fair of April, etc.)
Audio-visual projects - cinema and advertising
One of the more representaive lines of acion consitutes the announcement of the ciy that it will begin a campaign to aract audio-visual producers, that is, to create in Seville the mate-rial support for full-length ilms, short ilms, adverising and other mechanisms that will spread the image of the Andalusian capital.
In this sense, in the year 2000, the Seville Film Oice was created, joining the Network of Andalusia Film Commission (AFC), with the intenion of promoing the audio-visual sec-tor in the ciy and of turning Seville into a suitable set to ilm.
he importance of the audio-visual sector for tourism jusiies itself according to the pres-ident of the associaion, “because an image in a movie is equivalent to a costly and extensive adverising campaign and can be a sight for an average of 70 million people” (www.sevilla-ilmoice.com).
Combined/Joint Promotion
Besides the previously menioned mechanisms, Seville has undertaken new joint acions to ry to promote and simulate its tourisic image:
• he Consorium of Tourism of Seville and LANDALUZ, one of the principal food-processing companies of the region, signed an agreement to promote the Andalusian gasronomy in a joint way. With this acion, they intend to beneit the projecion and commercializaion of the gasronomic tourism of the Sevillian capital.
Accomplishment of promotional material
With the aim of facilitaing the compression of the tourisic pracice, as well as to insist on the promoion of the ciy on the tourisic context, the Town Council constantly undertakes the design and ediion of lealets, tourist guides and tourist catalogues disributed across the oices of tourist informaion, and other eniies linked with the sector.
Quality guarantee
Qualiy consitutes one of the big challenges for the ciy. he advances that have been achieved over the past few years has been signiicant, but the ciy of Seville, and in general Spain as a tourist desinaion, need to become compeiive via pricing, an issue that litle by litle will be changing, always with an eye toward integral qualiy and with a special aten-ion to the formaaten-ion in the sector.
Among the emblems that guarantee this tourisic qualiy are the ISO measures or “Q rom Qualiy”, standards that, when achieved, guarantee the presige, difereniaion, relia-biliy and rigor of the ceriied tourisic establishments. hese standards have been ceriied by the Insitute for the Tourist Spanish Qualiy (ICTE) in diferent establishments linked with the tourist sector.
In Seville, we can esimate a total of tweny-two ravel agencies, ten hotel establishments, an oice of tourist informaion and eight restaurants that possess this disincive badge (ICTE, 2009).
Creation of the Tourist Observatory of Seville
he Town Council has created the Tourist Observatory of the ciy, which shows a major con-cern for the staisical sectored analysis related to tourism (Corsoium of Seville).
Studies and invesigaions are conducted about the demand, epochs of the year, foreign and naional markets, ypes of tourists, housings used (commercial according to ypes and cate-gories and non-commercial), duraion of the stay, systems of commercializaion used, and the srata of age and status, in order to canalize the demands for the ciy’s compaible ofer.
Capture of new tourist segments.
he second one of the major social segments is the homosexual populaions. he Con-sorium of Tourism has overseen during the last years the accomplishment of diferent aciviies related to this social group, among which stands out the creaion of a “Guide of Gay Tourism” where appears all kinds of faciliies orientated to this tourists’ sector: rom housings, saunas, gay bars and restaurants, as well as exhibiions and other cultural events of interest.
Wealth and well-being in the visits
A very important issue that also must be present in the consrucion of the urban tourist model is the evaluaion of tourist policies and their inluence on ranslaing tourist visits into wealth and well-being for the ciy’s residents in addiion to simple quanitaive informaion of received tourists. his way, though most of the acions go to the tourist aracions, it is necessary to analyze intense form of aspects such as loyaly, deseasonaliy, and the increase of the expense or of the duraion of the stay, all of them key for the maximizaion of the ben-eits obtained by every visit received.
The tourist visit from other perspectives
• Tourist Bus “Seville Tour”. A global brand that integrates the best operators of pan-oramic tours around the world under a corporate image that assures the raveller a route of qualiy and excellence by tourist bus (wwsevillatour.com).
• Cruises “Tower of the Gold”. heir aim is to allow the discovery of the Guadalqui-vir River in diferent ways: the thousand-year-old river, the romanic river, the river of the conquerors of America, etc. with departures every half hour all year round, allowing the enjoyment of the beauiful views that the river ofers (www.cruceros-torredeloro.org).
• Panoramic Treadmill, of the Briish company World Tourist Aracions (WTA). Its slow pace allows the observaion of the ciy rom a diferent perspecive, since it is the highest point rom which it is possible to see the whole ciy (www.sevilla5.com).
The Seville Transport: Accessibility and Sustainability
Any ciy that wants to obtain a relevant posiioning in tourism must adopt a few levels of accessibiliy according to the needs of the demand. In this context, Seville, one of the big European ciies, in which the urban dimension coexists with rural comforts, is today one of the best connected ciies in Spain.
Characterized by very varied and eicient accessibiliy, Seville has turned not only into a point of tourisic desinaion but also into the best port of Andalusia, since it is one of the few Spanish ciies communicated eiciently by land, sea, railroad and air.
• Railroad. he consrucion of a new rail network has been fundamental to clear a his-torical cenre previously completely asphyxiated by the dizzy growth of raic. he railroad staion of Santa Justa, consructed by the Sevillian architects Cruz y Oriz, consitutes an important knot of connecions between the Andalusian capital and the rest of the Autonomous Communiy, Spain and Europe. High Speed’s system is formed nowadays by two products: AVE and Talgo 200, which have been placed at the cenre of Seville less than two and a half hours rom Madrid and only 40 minutes rom Cordoba.
• Plane. San Pablo’ s new Internaional Airport, the work of Rafael Moneo, is located only 10 km rom the downtown. It was specially designed to receive up to eight mil-lion passengers per year and it ofers regular lights to/rom the principal European and Spanish capitals. In the last few years, it has experienced a considerable growth as consequence of the implantaion of low-cost airlines, such as Ryanair, Vueling and Air Berlin.
• Ship. he Guadalquivir has a irst class port, in addiion to being the only interior one in Spain. It supports heavy raic, either tourist cruises or regular lines of goods. his river receives at the only luvial port of Spain, placed to 80 kilomeres rom the Atlanic Ocean and very close to the Mediterranean. he peak of this aciviy and the enhancement of Pier Delicias further promote the integraion of the Port in the Ciy of Seville, which has signiicantly muliplied its accessibiliy.
But besides accessibiliy, the Seville Town Council coninues to invest in ransport in order to incorporate in the ciy a real tourism policy of sustainable mobiliy based on the pro-moion of non-motorized ransport (pedesrian and bicycle) and public ransport.
With the objecive of reducing the use of private vehicles, the reducion of the surround-ing raic and the development of a network of bike lanes has been carried out throughout the ciy by the Historic Cenre of pedesrianizaion. According to the Seville Srategic Plan 2010, each ime more tourisic aciviy is planned, not only are economic goals to be taken into account, but also ecological and environmental ones.
here are four main projects related to inra-urban sustainable ransport that the ciy has undertaken in recent years:
• Elecric Microbus: Opened four years ago, it provides ransportaion to non-resident or passers-by tourists by means of the environment of pedesrian-riendly sreets of downtown Seville. With this, the interest shown by the ciy of Seville for sustainable ransport is shown, oping for a less polluing public ransport that cares about the sustainabiliy of the ciy (www.tussam.es).
• Merocenro: In search of green ransport, the ciy of Seville in collaboraion with the Junta de Andalucía, established an elecric rain that runs through the cenre of the ciy. With this, a more ecologically efecive ransport has been achieved, conribut-ing, in turn to the pedesrianizaion of the historical center (www.tussam.es). • Blobject. Segway Seville: With the same background of sustainabiliy as in the
previ-ous case, the ciy opted for a new form of tourism and sightseeing. Under the slogan “New ways to make and to see the ciy” the company ofers a unique and fun expe-rience through a Segway, an elecric scooter easily conrolled by body movements (www.segwayguidetours.com/sevilla).
• Ciclotour: A company rom Seville that is acive in the sector of leisure and tourism, using quads and bikes. It has the exclusive sales and disribuion of the quads for Spain and Portugal. Its moto: “Seville has an excepional climate with over 300 sunny days per year, with a completely lat terrain, no slopes, perfect for biking efortlessly, qui-etly and at any age” (www.ciclotour.com/sevilla).
Conclusions
he Seville Srategic Plan 2010 has been an important step in addressing the major challeng-es of tourism in Seville, since all the acions proposed have lead to a breakthrough in terms of shaping the ciy as a major new tourist desinaion in the internaional urban tourism circuit.
Increased compeiion in this mode is constant, since it is expected that an increasing number of ciies will gain a posiion of importance in urban tourism. hat is why it is nec-essary to coninue implemening acions aimed at achieving a compeiive and difereniat-ed product, looking for original ways to depart rom the standardizaion of products and ser-vices.
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Websites
Town Council of Seville: www.sevilla.org
Consorium of Seville. www.turismodesevilla.org
European Union (tourism): htp://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/tourism World Tourism Organizaion: www.unwto.org
Insitute for the Tourist Spanish Qualiy: www.icte.org Network of ciies “Spain Convenion Bureau”: www.scb.es Network of “cathedral ciies”: www.ciudadescatedralicias.org
Network of “ciies AVE”: www.redciudadesave.es
Network of “ciies of the Cinema”: www.ciudadesdecine.es
Network of “Ciies of the Music of the UNESCO”: www.unesco.org Network of ciies “EUROCITIES”: www.eurociies.eu
Network of ciies “Heritage of Humaniy”: www.ciudadesparimonio.org Urban Transportaion in Seville: www.tussam.es
Blobject. Segway Seville: www.segwayguidetours.com/sevilla Ciclotour Seville: www.ciclotour.com/sevilla
Port of Seville: www.apsevilla.org
Cruises “Tower of the Gold”: www.crucerostorredeloro.org Exhibiions and Congresses Palace of Seville: www.ibes.es
Gasronomic tourism in Seville: www.visiingsevilla.com/turismgasronomico Tourism of golf in Seville: www.sevillagolf.com
Sevilla Card: www.sevillacard.es
Channel for tourist informaion of Seville: www.turismosevilla.tv Seville Film Oice: www.sevillailmoice.com
