- During the year 2020, the municipal Tourism Department, Sernatur Valparaíso and the tourism associations worked on this application, which will be received this semester.
Thanks to a collective and collaborative work, the commune of Valparaíso receives the denomination of Zone of Tourist Interest (ZOIT) from the Government of Chile. An objective achieved thanks to the associative work promoted by the Municipality of Valparaíso, together with the National Tourism Service of Valparaíso, to obtain this designation that will bring direct and indirect benefits to the commune.
The ZOIT is an instrument of public management for the promotion of tourism, developed and implemented through a public-private commitment in communes with tourist conditions and requires conservation measures and integrated planning. The work done during the year 2020 generated an action plan that was sent to the committee of tourism ministers, who this year gave the respective approval to the declaration, finalizing the third phase of this application. Thus, the commune of Valparaíso joins recognized national destinations with this designation such as Torres del Paine, Rapa Nui, Archipelagos of Chiloé, Valdivia, among others.
In this regard, the mayor of Valparaíso, Jorge Sharp, was optimistic about this new designation. "The fact that Valparaíso has been declared by the State of Chile as an area of tourist interest means three things. First, an example of good management in the city. Secondly, an example of collaborative work with the private world and also with Sernatur to push this designation. And thirdly, economic reactivation, the end of the pandemic will have to mean the reactivation of the tourist activity for Valparaíso".
For her part, Karen Lein, representative of the Valparaíso hotel guild and Federation of Tourist Services (FESETUR), said that "the interesting thing is that this ZOIT effectively allows us to expand our tourist destination from many aspects of areas that are super rich and valuable from the tourist point of view, so it only enriches even more the offer of Valparaíso as a heritage city and Chilean tourist city".
While Marco Brauchi, president of the Chamber of Commerce and Tourism of Valparaíso said that "it is undoubtedly a framework for action, a road map, but above all with 52 initiatives that should be prioritized together, as this work was developed in the last year. A joint work, in network of the tourist ecosystem, of the private and the public world. This is tremendous news for the city, for the destination of Valparaiso".
JOINING FORCES
The Director of Tourism of the port municipality, Xochitl Poblete, explained this process that was achieved despite the health contingency of COVID-19, thanks to online meetings and the efforts of the tourist guilds of Valparaiso. "This was developed jointly by the different actors the world of tourism, and a citizen participation that was face-to-face until the pandemic arrived in 2020 and continued virtual. This work allowed us to build a governance to be able to push the various initiatives (...) We are very happy to complete this work process that will allow us to have a roadmap for the revival of tourism and the local economy."
The ZOIT action plan includes more than 50 initiatives to be developed over the next 4 years, led by local governance in various public areas. Currently, 6 areas have been prioritized in this work: sustainable development, promotion of human capital, governance for security, new infrastructure and development of products and experiences in the area of tourism. This scheme of action is linked to the economic reactivation of Valparaíso and provides clear guidelines on how to move forward.
The Regional Director of Sernatur, Marcelo Vidal, said that "we are very proud of the progress that our Region has made in the Zones of Tourist Interest. The definition by the Committee of Ministers of the declaration of Putaendo, the update of Valparaíso and the extension of Robinson Crusoe is a strong boost for tourism, which has been one of the activities most affected by the pandemic. For months we have developed an important work with the territories, with the local actors and with the municipalities, because we believe in tourism as an engine of social and economic development for the communities, and that our Region, which has a great tourist vocation, continues to advance in this matter".