Sustainability

The Special Destination Tourism Sustainability Plan (PSTD, Spanish acronym) aims to highlight the resources of Guadalajara that are often overlooked due to the city’s reputation as a place people merely pass through – one of the main challenges it faces in establishing itself as a tourist destination.

The Regional Plan for Castile-La Mancha includes the Special Destination Tourism Sustainability Plans (PSTDs, Spanish acronym) and  Destination Cohesion Initiatives (ACDs,  Spanish acronym) which, having achieved a score of over 70 out of 100 based on the assessment criteria set out, are best suited to regional tourism planning within the framework of the budget allocation for 2022 to the Autonomous Community of Castile -La Mancha, taking into account their contribution to territorial cohesion and detailing their justification and coherence, both in terms of the interrelation of the set of interventions and the synergies and alignment of each intervention with tourism strategies at regional and national level, as well as with the general and specific objectives of the strategy.

The resolution of 19 December 2022 of the State Secretariat for Tourism, publishing the Agreement of the Sectoral Conference on Tourism of 14 December 2022, which establishes the distribution criteria and the resulting allocation to the Autonomous Communities of the funding earmarked for investment projects by local authorities under Component 14, Investment 1 of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, ratified the approval of the Destination Tourism Sustainability Strategy, part of the Destination Tourism Sustainability Programme, granting the Guadalajara 2023-2025 Tourism Sustainability Programme (PSTD) a total amount of EUR 2,681,000.00.

Key strategic priorities

1. To establish tourism as a key economic activity, thereby increasing its contribution to the local GDP.
2. To enhance the tourist experience by promoting the region’s tourist attractions and business offerings
3. Develop a tourism offer that appeals to tourists and day-trippers visiting Guadalajara as a strategy to increase their spending
4. Managing the implementation of the Plan through consensus as a fundamental prerequisite for ensuring its success
5. To make sustainability a cornerstone of Guadalajara’s development.

Key objectives

• To implement a model of sustainable tourism development strengthening Guadalajara’s unique selling points by drawing on its little-known historical and natural heritage, its cuisine, and its connection to storytelling as a fundamental element of human expression; a unique selling point that makes the city an attractive and competitive destination and ensures a satisfying tourist experience. 
• To change travellers’ perception of the city as merely a stopover or a place offering basic services, and to promote the destination and its image within the national tourism sector. 

Activities carried out within the thematic areas set out in the call for proposals for the Destination Tourism Sustainability Plan (PSTD, Spanish acronym)

A total of nine initiatives have been included in the Special Destination Tourism Sustainability Plan (PSTD, Spanish acronym) Programme, across four cross-cutting themes, in line with the proposal submitted by the Guadalajara City Council in response to the call for funding.