DEGUSTA SANTA CRUZ’ AS A GREAT DYNAMIZING AGENT

In these complicated times for the Commerce and Tourism sector, with special attention to Gastronomy, Hotel and Catering, the city councils and other public administrations are called to collaborate proactively with companies and self-employed professionals, to move forward in the best way and with the best guarantees.

For this reason and for this reason the City Council of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, through the Development Society of Santa Cruz and with initiatives and projects such as “Degusta Santa Cruz” wants to play an active role in the defense, revitalization, promotion and enhancement of strategic sectors for the Capital and the entire Municipality, such as the aforementioned Hospitality and Catering.

It is clear that direct aid to the business sector that has been affected by the COVID is not enough, and that aid for Temporary Layoff Plans (ERTE) in favor of companies and workers who have been temporarily unemployed must continue to be active until the pandemic is truly over and with guarantees.

At the halfway point of this difficult year 2021, from the Development Society of Santa Cruz de Tenerife we take stock and we are pleased to see that, despite the pandemic, several initiatives have become a reality that, undoubtedly, we believe that, in some way, will help to revive economic activity in our municipality.

In these first six months of the year, we can not fail to highlight the development of the successful tapas route “Taste the Fiestas de Mayo 2021”, in which the 69 participating establishments served more than 4,200 tapas tasted by thousands of local citizens and visitors, not to mention the more than 58,000 visits received on the webapp of the contest. A great success.

Similarly, we must highlight the promotion and organization of events such as the II Meeting of Traditional Markets of the Canary Islands, with the invaluable collaboration of the Nuestra Señora de África Market, our popular “La Recova”, and the sponsorship of the General Directorate of Trade and Consumer Affairs of the Government of the Canary Islands.

At the same time, and also with the active participation of the Santa Cruz Development Society, two other campaigns have become a reality in recent months. On the one hand, the very well-received “Bonos Consumo” campaign (www.bonoconsumosantacruz.com) making available to the public an amount of 46,500 vouchers that have benefited many santacruceros and santacruceras, who have been able to redeem them in any of the more than 300 establishments attached to the campaign.

On the other hand, we believe that the “EscaparArte” campaign has been very effective in the form of a photo contest that has been exhibited in a large number of store windows of establishments in our capital city. “EscaparArte” was sponsored by the Development Society of Santa Cruz, and the invaluable support and collaboration of the Autonomous Organization of Culture of the City Council of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the Directorate General of Trade and Consumer Affairs of the Government of the Canary Islands, Zona Centro and the Federation of Urban Areas of the Canary Islands (Fauca).

Lastly, it should be noted that the Integral System of Spanish Tourism Quality in Destinations (SICTED), a program developed by the Secretary of State for Tourism aimed at the integral and permanent management of quality in a tourist destination, is still in operation.

The objective of the Development Society and SICTED is to work hand in hand with tourism companies and services in order to improve the experience and satisfaction of visitors to the municipality, as well as to have a permanent structure for the management and promotion of the quality of the destination.

The municipality of Santa Cruz de Tenerife joined SICTED in the middle of last year and is already reaping the rewards in the form of awards and distinctions. This is because, in its first ordinary Committee of Distinction of 2021 the SICTED has valued and recognized the work done by 37 companies and tourist resources of the city and the municipality, which have been awarded with the SICTED distinction and whose list has been published in the main media.

The Development Society of Santa Cruz de Tenerife makes a positive balance of the work done in the first half of this complicated year 2021, welcomes the successes achieved by the tourist destination and the companies and professionals who have been awarded, while reiterating and reinforcing its commitment to continue collaborating in all possible areas to the socio-economic revival of our city and municipality.