Xorret de Catí is going to be expanded as a leisure area in the middle of nature with facilities for extreme sports, BMX/MTB bicycles and e-motorcycles, parking for motorhomes, recreational areas and rural accommodation, among other services and possibilities to enjoy the area located between Castalla and Petrer mountains.
The Diputación de Alicante has presented this Wednesday the master plan that defines this facility and transformation, in which it invests 5.5 million euros over the next three years, with plans to give it continuity later because it is part of a plan to create a kind of circuit of six natural areas in total.
In addition to Xorret de Catí, this route includes El Plano, Casa Tápena, El Castellet, L’Avaiol and La Garriga, so the promotion of inland tourism also extends to the municipalities of Sax, Onil, Vall de Gallinera and Castell of Castles.
This consensus initiative has the backing of all the political groups in the Diputación and, in fact, it started with a motion from the PSPV-PSOE with an amendment from the PP, as highlighted by the president, Carlos Mazón, who has had the General Director of Tourism, Herick Campos, which also suggests the support of the Generalitat.
“A project that aims to boost active and sustainable tourism in the province, improve and preserve the natural environment, unite the territory, as well as seasonally adjust and diversify the product,” Mazón highlighted.
Accompanied by the director of the Costa Blanca Board of Trustees, José Mancebo, and by the deputy for Architecture, José Ramón González de Zárate, he stressed that it is essential for the province “to have a strategic vision of the future and work on the design of this traceability », with the idea that Xorret de Catí and the other inland recreational areas represent an essential «complement» to the sun and beach tourist offer, which they will continue to promote.
«This project has to do with tourism, with gastronomy, with sports activities, with the environment, with sustainability. They are all common links, arteries of the future of the province of Alicante that are structuring municipalities and uniting them with the same axis so that they once again become a claim from within us », he specified.
The estimated budget of 5.5 million euros will be covered by European funds and seeks to consolidate Xorret de Catí as a “dynamizing hub”.
This ambitious plan is structured around four lines of action: the green and sustainable transition; energy efficiency; the digital transition and competitiveness.
Facilitating interconnection, access to information, promoting resources and experiences, and implementing inland services are the basis of this proposal, which will have the Xorret de Catí area as a relevant hub and a driving force behind inland tourism activity.
The master plan includes actions to protect against erosion and the placement of “rest islands” with plant cover, landscape recovery, the creation of accessible routes, tourist cycle corridors and BMX/MTB circuits, the installation of charging points for electric vehicles, the improvement of energy efficiency, or various environmental solutions in accommodation and centers.
It also proposes a Costa Blanca Interior APP to improve the tourist experience, as well as optimize Wi-Fi and telephone connectivity at points of interest and digital tourist signage in the six areas. In addition, in Xorret de Catí it is planned to build a motorhome and park-and-ride area, an active leisure area for beginners and another “xtreme”, as well as a center for revitalization, information and interpretation.
The presentation event was attended by the first vice president and deputy for Culture, Julia Parra, the deputy for the Environment, Miguel Ángel Sánchez, and the general director of Tourism of the Generalitat, Herick Campos, the administration that articulates this program for the collection and management of European funds for tourism sustainability. Provincial deputies Eduardo Dolón, Juan de Dios Navarro, Javier Gutiérrez, Irene Navarro, and Óscar Mengual have also attended, as well as mayors, councilors and technicians from the beneficiary municipalities.
González de Zárate, the first to open the intervention shift, thanked the work of the technical team developed by his Architecture area, as well as the involvement of other institutions and associations for the study of the strategic and operational phases. The deputy has specified that in this project “Xorret de Catí is positioned as the epicenter of a comprehensive plan that will value the entire interior of the province.”
For his part, Mancebo, who has outlined the key points of this sustainable program that revolves around the Xorret de Catí area and extends to five other natural spaces in the province, has insisted on the need to increase the consumption of active tourism and interpretive, «activating the energy efficiency of the infrastructures of our sites, incorporating digital signage solutions and launching active leisure products in nature, accessible to different consumers».
