During the webinar “Sustainable European strategies for the reactivation of the tourism sector”, in the framework of the Training Plan of the programme “Reactivation of Regional Tourism with Circular Economy”, a project financed by the Innovation Fund for Competitiveness (FIC) of the Regional Government of Coquimbo, the tourism SMEs and MSMEs of the IV region proposed to promote public-private partnerships, with the aim of reactivating tourism activity, strengthening regional tourism goods and products around sustainable tourism.

The idea arose during the presentation by the European expert Luis Baldó, who referred to the active role played by the Spanish State in making its fiscal heritage available and valuable for the development of sustainable tourism. In this regard, he gave as an example the case of Paredones, where an accommodation project has been carried out so that tourists can stay in state-owned properties, which has encouraged the development of rural, sustainable and ecological tourism.

As a result, the tourism companies in the Coquimbo region participating in the online activity expressed their willingness to replicate the Spanish experiences and the State could become a key and relevant actor in encouraging the development of tourism activity through the provision of heritage properties in the public domain that could be used for the implementation of projects with a focus on sustainable tourism.

They also agreed that it is necessary to create a public-private alliance so that the State of Chile, through the application of its norms and tools, will make public real estate and resources available for the development of these initiatives. Meanwhile, the private sector, through its resources and ideas, will develop and implement sustainable tourism projects to attract new visitors eager to acquire new experiences and thematic products. This will result in an improvement in the quality of the tourist profile and higher revenues for the region.