The Costa del Sol celebrates 50 years of the 'art of living well'

Tourism

Some 200 professionals and officials from different organisations took part in a gala event to celebrate 50 years of promoting the destination around the world and launch a new promotional video that looks to the future

Pilar Martínez

Málaga

A wide palette of colours, an example of the life and light that characterises the destination, are the main new features of the new Costa ... del Sol Tourism brand which was presented in the Edgar Neville auditorium in Malaga city on Wednesday 27 May, at a gala to commemorate 50 years since the creation of the Costa del Sol brand.

Some 200 tourism professionals, local and provincial government representatives and members of the province's business community gathered at the event during which the president of Costa del Sol Tourism, Francisco Salado, highlighted "50 years of taking the province of Malaga and its Costa del Sol to the world". He went on to say that the brand is also "looking to the future" and with a new image that is "a reflection of what we are today: a happy, diverse, innovative destination capable of offering a complete experience all year round".

Salado explained that the new brand was created "with the aim of reinforcing the positioning of the Costa del Sol as a mature, diverse and competitive destination on a global level, maintaining its Mediterranean essence while projecting an image linked to innovation, sustainability and tourism evolution".

The president of the provincial authority, the Diputación de Málaga, went on to say that the brand tells of a success story, built over decades and driven by a group of pioneers, of a brand that today "is a benchmark all over the world". It also claims the identity of a place that has managed to evolve without losing its essence and where "true luxury is about stopping to enjoy, turning the climate into wellbeing, the landscape into inspiration and every moment into a permanent experience".

He finished by putting the focus on "a new generation of travellers, a new way of feeling the destination, a new image to reaffirm who we are, projecting everything that makes us unique, which is a lot".

The gala's presenter Rocío Luque explained that it was the professionals and institutions of the province who were the first to get to know it "to continue growing together", insisting that this brand and this destination "are the result of the joint work and effort of companies, institutions and professionals who have contributed to establishing the international positioning of the Costa del Sol".

"The aim is to reinforce the positioning of the Costa as a mature, diverse and globally competitive destination".

Salado stressed that the video, whose aim is to promote "a brand that attracts to one that excites. Costa del Sol, the art of living well", seeks to "adapt to the new formats and communication needs in an increasingly digital and globalised tourism environment". The new corporate identity and the different sub-brands will be progressively incorporated into the different promotional and communication actions developed by Turismo Costa del Sol.

"In these 50 years, the province has evolved from a mainly holiday destination to a diversified and internationally recognised tourist offer in multiple sectors. The new image aims, precisely, to reflect this evolution and the capacity of the destination to continue adapting to the new profiles and motivations of the international traveller," he said.

Salado described the profound transformation of the destination, which in the 1970s began as a sun and beach resort and has now become a highly professionalised and diversified tourism industry, an international benchmark in culture, gastronomy, sport, technology, luxury and sustainability.

It is he said, a metamorphosis that has been possible thanks to investments in facilities, public services and training, backed by a solid public-private alliances and a shared long-term vision. Looking to the future, Salado highlighted that the great challenge "is to build an even more innovative and sustainable legacy that successfully addresses today's challenges transport, water resources and housing", ensuring economic prosperity without losing the province's identity and authenticity.

The president of Costa del Sol Tourism stated emphatically that this destination "is difficult to replicate" and that the true essence that defines the Costa del Sol to the world can be summed up in one word: "happiness".

He explained that the destination's new brand image seeks to "project precisely that happiness, positioning itself as an indisputable synonym of wellbeing, relaxation, hospitality and quality of life for millions of people". He emphasised the fact that the differential and unique factor of the Costa del Sol lies with its people and their innate capacity to welcome visitors and make them feel at home.

With regard to the future, Salado said that "the current success of tourism must go hand in hand with the well-being and quality of life of its residents" to ensure that "it is a source of pride and a responsibility to represent a destination capable of creating nostalgia".

There was humour throughout the evening including a sketch in which the comedians Federico de Juan and Javier Quero imitated characters from Bertin Osbourne and Bad Bunny to Donald Trump who told Salado that he wanted to buy the Costa del Sol: "Neither Greenland, nor Cuba. There is no better destination than the Costa del Sol". And if that doesn't work then "I will have to invade you" he said.

'Antonio Banderas' then took to the stage to promise to fix the mess made by Donald Trump, saying "neither the beaches nor the culture of the Costa del Sol are for sale".

It was on 29 April 1976 that the Patronato de Turismo was set up, an institution that marked a milestone in the history of tourism in Spain.

The event reviewed the half-century of promotion since 29 April 1976, when the Patronato de Turismo was set up, a key institution that marked a milestone in the history of the Spanish tourism industry by becoming the first promotional body of its kind in the country, serving as a model for the rest of the provinces.

It was a pioneering body that anticipated the current strategy of co-governance and was not born in a time of prosperity to celebrate the success of the destination, but rather as a public-private emergency committee "due to the need to provide an immediate response to the problems of the tourism sector", as stated in the founding meeting.

One of its aims was to unify the scattered promotion carried out separately by the coastal municipalities, such as Torremolinos and Marbella, under a single umbrella brand with international projection: the Costa del Sol brand, which is now renewing its image.