Third edition of Bono Viaje attracts nearly 29,000 reservations for the first half of the year

Friday 17th March 2023
Mike Smith

The third edition of the Bono Viaje travel voucher initiative, launched by Turisme Comunitat Valenciana in January 2023 and which will be in force throughout this year, has already attracted a total of 28,967 reservations for the first half of the year, with 37,000 codes released.

According to the regional secretary of Tourism, Francesc Colomer, “new codes will be distributed at the end of March”, and he explained that “with a budget of 15 million euros, equal to that of the 2022 programme, it expects to benefit nearly 150,000 people”. The last edition of the Bono Viaje registered a total of 49,592 reservations with 148,800 people benefited.

The head of Turisme has stressed that the Comunidad Valenciana “has been a pioneer in the implementation of this type of initiative which, in its three years of existence, has reaped better results than expected”.

In this sense, he has declared that “so far, Turisme’s total investment amounts to 31.3 million euros, with an economic impact on the tourism sector of more than 71.3 million euros between direct and indirect impact” which means that “for every euro invested in the initiative, it has returned 2.28 euros to the tourist economy”.

The Bono Viaje is an incentive initiative for internal demand for tourist services in seasonal periods, aimed at people residing in the Comunidad Valenciana itself. In 2023 the aid is 60% of the cost of contracted tourist services, regardless of short or long stay, but with a minimum stay of two consecutive nights in the same accommodation, and up to a maximum of 600 euros per aid granted.

Occupation Forecast in Fallas

In this context, Colomer wanted to emphasize that the city of Valencia, which is currently celebrating its big festival, Las Fallas, declared a Festival of International Tourist Interest and since 2016, Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO, “is one of the ten destinations most in demand by users of the Bono Viaje, together with Benidorm, Calp, Finestrat, Peñíscola and Altea”.

Likewise, he has stressed that for this weekend, which includes the nights of March 17 and 18, “the city has an occupancy forecast of 86.5%, 3.5 percentage points higher than that of 2022.”

Regarding hotel occupancy for the entire week of Fallas, from March 13 to 19, the forecast stands at 72.9%. In addition, Colomer has highlighted the large influx of visitors from Madrid to enjoy Las Fallas, due to “the good connection via high-speed trains with the city of Valencia and the fact that March 20 is a holiday in the Comunidad de Madrid”.

It should be noted that the average price of hotels in the city during the weekend stands at 266.65 euros.

Promotion of Las Fallas and La Magdalena

Francesc Colomer further explained that “Turisme Comunitat Valenciana has allocated 80,000 euros in 2023 to support the dissemination and promotion of Las Fallas and La Magdalena“, two of the great festivals of the Comunidad Valenciana that coincide this year in the calendar.

Specifically, Turisme allocates 40,000 euros to the ‘Federació de Falles Secció Especial‘ and another 40,000 euros to the ‘Federació Gestora de Gaiates‘, to support collaborative marketing actions.

In addition, the tourism department has launched a digital campaign, through the tourist portal and the different social profiles of Turisme Comunitat Valenciana, which disseminates the most significant activities and acts of both festivals.

Through this campaign, which includes actions in both the regional, national and international markets, Turisme highlights everything that can be enjoyed, both in the city of Valencia and in Castelló de la Plana, and also facilitates the link to the official pages of both events, as well as interesting images and videos that summarize the essence of these two great tourist events in the Comunidad Valenciana.