The Secretary of State for Tourism, Rosana Morillo, has exemplified in Betanzos how the Government of Pedro Sánchez materializes in Galicia its commitment to the transformation of tourism towards a more sustainable, digital and resilient model through almost 200 million euros invested in the Community. He did so on a visit to the O Pasatempo Park, where he saw the progress of the restoration works of this monument, which is funded by the Ministry of Industry and Tourism through the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan. Rosana Morillo has meant that these investments benefit one of every two municipalities in Galicia through the plans for the modernization of tourist destinations, which the Government launched in 2020.
The Secretary of State has chosen Betanzos to start a work trip in Galicia that will take you to the Diputación de A Coruña and tomorrow, to the Ribeira Sacra. In Betanzos she has been received by the mayor, María Barral, and has toured part of O Pasatempo together with the government delegate, Pedro Blanco, and the government subdelegate in A Coruña, María Rivas.
There, it has calculated the investment of the Ministry of Industry and Tourism that directly benefits Betanzos by more than 4 million euros. An example of this support is the restoration of the O Pasatempo Park, which is implemented by the Xunta thanks to the financing of the Ministry through the Xacobeo National Plan and the funds of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan.
The rehabilitation of O Pasatempo is one of the 12 projects that the Government finances on the Camino de Santiago in Galicia with 22.7 million euros. The Xunta is responsible for executing the works, in exercise of its competences in the protection of the heritage. In O Pasatempo, the Ministry allocates 1.5 million euros to these works, which are being executed in different phases.
During the visit, the Secretary of State discussed with the Mayor of Betanzos new ways to continue supporting the recovery of this historic complex, through the Ministry’s grants for heritage recovery, which are under evaluation, or the 2% Cultural program.
Tourism sustainability
Morillo was interested in the state of implementation of the Tourism Sustainability Plan of the Historic Center of Betanzos, which receives one million euros from the Ministry in the framework of the aid granted in 2023 to the development of these plans of management and tourism modernization. The Plan promoted by Betanzos includes a series of actions to revitalize its historic center and turn it into a reference destination for cultural tourism.
They also reviewed the actions that benefit Betanzos within the Tourism Sustainability Plan of the Reserve of As Mariñas Coruñesas - Terras do Mandeo. This plan is implemented through the homonymous consortium with a state contribution of 1.5 million euros and prioritizes actions related to ecotourism, sustainability and energy efficiency.
Finally, Morillo checked the result of the project to digitize the tourist offer of the Camino Ingles, in which Betanzos participates together with the municipalities of Ferrol, Neda, Cabanas, Pontedeume and Miño. In this project, the Concello betanceiro received a grant of 168,000 euros for various digitization actions (installation of Wi-Fi points and improvement of the website and the tourist office of the city council).