EuroVelo presentation at Fitur, Madrid.

 

Every year one of the world’s biggest tourism events takes place in Madrid, Spain. This year was no different. From January 22 to 26 The International Tourism Trade Fair (Fitur) had more than 220,000 visitors with 9,000 companies present from 165 countries. EuroVelo was present at this year’s Fitur, showcasing the European Cycle Route Network and pedaling towards a National EuroVelo Coordination Center for Spain.

At this year's Fitur a meeting about the coordination of EuroVelo in Spain took place, hosted by the Tourism Office of Andalusia, Andalusian Ministry of Transportation, and ConBici, the Spanish Cyclists’ organization. In order to work towards a National EuroVelo Coordination Center (NECC) in Spain, a number of representative bodies of Spanish regions, cycling organizations, and tour operators attended the meeting, along with the Ministry of Environment of the national Spanish government.

Germany's booth at Fitur - bicycles are everywhere!

 

 As a result of this meeting, on February 24 2014 the Spanish Ministry of Environment will host a meeting in order to take steps towards an effective coordination of EuroVelo in Spain. The goal of this event is to agree on a delegation of tasks and create a cooperation agreement.

EuroVelo, the European cycle route network, has three routes that currently pass through Spain. EuroVelo route 1 (Atlantic Route), EuroVelo route 3 (Pilgrims Route), and EuroVelo route 8 (Mediterranean route). More than 3,000km of cycle routes criss-cross Spain, giving tourists all the more reason to visit this beautiful and diverse country. With more than 60 million tourist visiting last year, Spain sits in 3^rd place for the most visited destination in the world. Cycle tourism can only help increase that number.

 A previous meeting about EuroVelo in Spain took place at the Permanent Representation of Spain to the EU (REPER) in Brussels, and since then EuroVelo has been working towards one high-level meeting per month to make the effective coordination of EuroVelo in Spain a reality.

 About the Author

Jesus Freire Valderrama is a Policy Assistant, EuroVelo and Cycling Tourism at the ECF and part of A Contramano (Seville Cyclists Assembly).