The subdelegate of the Government in Ourense, Eladio Santos, congratulated the tourist entities of the province on Monday because "behind each SICTED plate there are many hours of training, continuous improvement and work". "Thanks to your work, we take another step to continue making the province a national and international reference of interior tourism," he said in the delivery of the 47 SICTED badges of the Ourense Thermal Destination.
During his speech at the event, held at the Aquae Querquennae Interpretation Center in Bande, Santos celebrated the "tourist quality" of the province of Ourense. "These distinctions mean excellence, collective work and a determined commitment to a sustainable and competitive tourism model," he said in front of the promoters of recognized public and private initiatives. These include accommodation, spas, museums, exhibition halls and interpretation centres.
The subdelegate of the Government explained that the Integral System of Tourist Quality in Destination (SICTED) is "a strategic project" promoted by the Secretary of State for Tourism, in collaboration with the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces, and that it "focuses on improving the visitor experience through the professionalization of tourism services and cooperation between public and private agents."
In this regard, Eladio Santos recalled that the Government of Spain transferred to the Xunta de Galicia more than 130 million euros from the Next Generation funds to promote tourism in the autonomous community, with varied investment lines such as the Tourism Sustainability Plans in Destinations, energy efficiency aid in tourism companies, the digital skills plan for professionals in the tourism sector, the digitalization of tourist SMEs (Last Mile Program) and tractor projects in the environment of the Camino de Santiago. "It is important that a large part of these funds is invested in the province of Ourense, because it has enormous potential and needs the support of the Administrations to make itself known," he said.
Finally, the subdelegate praised the institutional collaboration, which makes this type of initiative possible, and encouraged the promoters of the services and entities present to continue on this path because "betting on quality is not a goal, it is a constant commitment".