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Date Published: 15/03/2023

ARCHIVED - Elche and Villena are officially recognised as top quality destinations

ARCHIVED ARTICLE -

The two towns in Alicante province have been awarded prestigious Sicted certificates

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - Elche and Villena are officially recognised as top quality destinations

The Alicante towns of Elche and Villena have been officially recognised as top quality destinations and awarded Sicted (Integral System of Spanish Tourism Quality in Destination) certificates by the Secretary of State for Tourism.

In the case of Villena, nine services have received Sicted recognition for the first time, including restaurants, cafes, a winery, a museum, an active tourism company and Juan Carlos Ferrero's tennis academy.

In addition, four other local services have held onto their the award.

"Villena is a fertile land of music, gastronomy, culture, history and in these post-pandemic times offers everything for people looking for new and less crowded places to discover," said the regional secretary of Tourism, Francesc Colomer.

Meanwhile, in Elche, a total of 27 tourism companies and services have renewed this seal of quality, which demonstrates that they "continue to work to maintain tourism excellence and become a tourist capital of the 21st century".

"Sicted is a recognition of certified tourism quality, which is what allows destinations to compete in the way they must compete at the moment," added Colomer.

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He also stressed that, in the last year, the Valencia Region has "led the way" in Spain in terms of Sicted recognition.

At present, the region has 1,399 distinguished tourist services, representing 21% of the national total, which places it as the autonomous community with the highest number of distinctions, followed by Andalusia, with 1,190, and Galicia, with 915.

The Elche and Villena awards were presented during the inauguration the new El Ternari hall at the Misteri d'Elx on the 20th anniversary of the Elche Congress Centre.

More than 4 million euros has been invested in promoting tourism in Elche and Villena.

Colomer explained that since 2019 "we have invested 724,760 euros in Villena including direct aid against Covid-19, aid for competitiveness and deseasonalisation of tourist destinations".

Turisme Comunitat Valenciana has invested 3,369,600 euros in Elche since 2019, including the construction of the CdT Elche, tourist information offices and training courses.

Image: Generalitat Valenciana

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