The lagoon will host for the second consecutive year the assembly of mayors of the Group of World Heritage Cities of Spain (GCPHE), which will be held on June 4. This is because the organization of the assembly rotates among its 15 members, but aside, the city that holds the presidency is responsible for hosting a call, which is the case of La Laguna.
It will be “a magnificent opportunity for our city”, stressed the president of the GCPHE and mayor of La Laguna, Luis Yeray Gutiérrez. He has highlighted that in March 2022 the fifteen heritage cities achieved “important progress” in terms of conservation, enhancement and tourism promotion, and at their next meeting they will have “the opportunity to continue taking steps in that direction”. “For La Laguna, it is also an excellent opportunity to reinforce our role within the cities recognized by Unesco as the only city in the Canary Islands with the title of World Heritage”, Gutiérrez stressed.
The assembly will be held on June 4 and among the previous acts there is an extraordinary concert that will take place on the 3rd, to which an invitation will be sent to Queen Emeritus Doña Sofía.
The mayor hopes to have the presence of the Royal Family, “which has always supported the initiatives of the Heritage Cities, especially in cultural matters, something that we value and appreciate, even more so this year when the 30th anniversary of its creation is celebrated of the Group”, emphasizes the mayor of La Laguna. Luis Yeray Gutiérrez has also chaired this Monday the first GCPHE Tourism Commission of the Year, which has promoted the promotion of the 15 Spanish cities with the Unesco seal in the main international markets of Europe, the United States and Canada in 2023 .
The first actions that are underway and planned are participation in the ITB Tourism Fair in Berlin (from March 7 to 9) and in the Conferences organized by Turespaña in Mallorca with agents and tour operators from the United States and Canada.
In the Tourism Commission, in which the Councilor for Tourism of La Laguna, Idaira Afonso, and the Councilor for Tourism of Salamanca, Fernando Castaño, have been appointed coordinators, the president of the Group has informed of the actions to promote the tourist offer , cultural and gastronomy of the 15 cities at the ILTM Tourism Fair in Brazil (from May 9 to 12) and at the ILTM Singapore Tourism Fair (from June 19 to 22). All this within the framework of a set of actions in the first half of the year, which will continue with the international promotion campaign in the United States, Canada and European countries throughout 2023.
He has also highlighted the positive result of the promotion of the gastronomy of the 15 World Heritage Cities in the program ‘Planes Gourmet’, on Cuatro TV, which has already broadcast two programs on January 22 and February 5, in the that has disseminated the most emblematic dishes and products of the cities, as well as its gastronomic guide. The last space will be broadcast next Sunday at 12 noon. Progress has also been made in the Commission on the proposal to market travel packages and city routes under the World Heritage seal, with “a large national tour operator” and travel agents.
The first Committee on Education, Culture and Sports has also been held over these days, in which some of the main milestones and events of the cultural program for 2023 have been promoted, including the organization of the Group’s 30th anniversary.
In this sense, Heritage Night 2023, which will take place on Saturday, September 16, will serve to promote this event, taking advantage of the Spanish presidency of the European Union, in the second half of 2023.
Starting in September, the Group will celebrate major cultural and sporting events in unique settings in the historic quarters of the 15 cities.
Among them is the X Cycle of Chamber Music in autumn, between the months of October and December, in collaboration with the Reina Sofía School of Music; and the Racing Circuit, with 15 tests chosen by each city, in the 10k and 20 modalities, whose routes run through the historic quarters, in collaboration with Paradores and Viajes El Corte Inglés.
In the pedagogical field and in order to continue the work in favor of the dissemination of the value of World Heritage among the youngest, a new impetus will be given to the initiatives ‘Heritage Classroom, for the 2022-203 academic year’ and to the contest ‘Your city. Your Heritage on Instagram’, intended for schools of Compulsory Secondary Education and Basic Vocational Training, whose deadline for submission of work ends on April 21.
