By Euden Valdez
In history, Filipinos know of Spain as the country that colonized and Christianized the Philippines for about 300 years. But in tourism, Filipinos have a lot to discover about the country that influenced much of their culture.
As such, Turespaña, the Spanish Tourism Office, continues to “reintroduce” Spain as one of the best destinations in Europe to the Philippine market. As part of this effort, Singapore-based Turespaña, which is in charge of Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand market, held a dinner for Filipino tour operators on February 2 at Discover Primea in Makati City.
For 2017, the tourism office aims to highlight Spain as the country with the third greatest number of World Heritage sites and cities in the world.
“Spain is the only country in Europe with 15 World Heritage Cities,” Regional Market analyst Vien Cortes said in her presentation. “What does this mean? If you’ve been to Borobodur in Yogyakarta, you’ve seen a world heritage monument. If you’ve been to Ankor Wat in Siem Reap, again, you’ve seen a world heritage monument. In Spain what’s the difference? These places have been declared as world heritage cities, meaning the whole place and not just a site.”
At www.spain.info, the World Heritage Cities are described as “jewels of immense cultural value for a variety of reasons”, as well as “dynamic cities [that are] full of life.”
According to the web site, many of the cities also contain the world’s most important monuments, like the City Walls of Avila. The Muslim Caliphate’s Great Mosque is found in Cordoba; while the cathedral holding the remains of the apostle Saint James is at Santiago de Compostela.
“It is the third most important Catholic site in the world after Jerusalem and Rome,” Cortes noted.
On the other hand, Alcalá de Henares is known as the birthplace of Don Quixote author Miguel de Cervantes, whose 16th-century Castilian home still stands. Ibiza, the Mediterranean island coveted for its nightlife, is also a World Heritage City, thanks to its famed architecture, as well biodiversity and culture.
The cities of Toledo and Salamanca “reflect Spain’s urban history, displaying the transformations and influences they have undergone over the ages”, while Segovia and Cuenca “integrate its urban landscapes with natural surroundings, like rivers, mountains and gorges.”
Completing the list of Heritage Cities are Cáceres, with fortresses, Renaissance palaces and medieval town squares; Mérida and Tarragona, with preserved archaeological sites from the Roman Empire; San Cristóbal de la Laguna, the origins of Latin American urban architecture; and the twin cities of Úbeda and Baeza in Andalusia.
And the time has come for every traveler to discover these places of cultural and architectural heritage. This is because many of the heritage cities are now accessible via Spain’s high-speed train system, which, according to Cortes, is currently the “most comprehensive in Europe today”.
This also means that connectivity to major cities of Madrid and Barcelona are now more efficient. And by the way, Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia, one of the works of Antoni Gaudi, is also a World Heritage Site. It is currently undergoing a long restoration set to finish by 2022. “That’s not so far away,” Cortes enthused.
The Turespana official is also bullish that Spain will welcome more Filipino tourists this year. She explained, “Our observation has been that since the low-cost carriers started to flourish in this market, Filipinos—even those living in the far-flung areas—as soon as they started to domestically, they then started to travel within the region, and now they are really interested and saving their money and resources to fly long haul.”
And without a doubt, Spain is now on their bucket list.