The shops of Altea received during 2021 near 1.7 million euros in financial aid delivered by the City Council to “alleviate as much as possible the consequences of fewer sales due to the health situation that marked the year due to the COVID 19 pandemic,” as explained this Wednesday by the Councilor for Commerce, Miguel de la Hoz.
The mayor highlighted that “we have closed the financial year 2021 with a positive balance, with significant financial aid and a great public awareness campaign to invest and buy in local businesses.” De la Hoz explained that the area he directs “has worked to support the trade with various campaigns, and with the processing of subsidies for them. These grants for the amount of 1,667,941.15 euros have contributed to combating the pandemic for small businesses, the self-employed and SMEs ”. In this sense, he clarified that said financial aid “comes from the Generalitat (857,450’63 euros), the Alicante Provincial Council (308,682.22 euros), and the Altea City Council (205,788.15 euros), figures that have been vital to avoid the closure of many establishments in our municipality ”.
Miguel de la Hoz indicated that in his Department “awareness-raising work has been essential for the inhabitants of Altea to consume in local commerce”, and remarked that “it is very important to invest in the establishments of the municipality, since it is not only helped to the Altea trade but to the population in general “, because when a person” buys in his town, he revalues the local economy, helps his neighbors and friends, and the client is rewarded with a closer treatment. ”
On the other hand, the Councilor for Commerce highlighted that in 2021 “the virtual commerce platform ‘Altemarket.com’ was launched with the collaboration of the Associació Local de Comerciants i Empresaris d’Altea (ALCEA) and the Feria de Eventos de Altea (Feva) so that merchants have an Internet space where they can sell their products online without any economic cost, all thanks to the fact that said portal is mostly subsidized with a grant of 24,637.48 euros from the Xarxa AFIC and a grant from the Alicante Provincial Council of 7,000 euros ”.
Trade campaigns
Miguel de la Hoz pointed out that the City Council carried out during 2021 “different campaigns to revitalize and promote commerce such as the school supply voucher, the ‘1000 botigues, 100 motius’ purchases, or the Christmas tickets, in addition to the gastronomic route or the window display contest at Christmas. These campaigns have been a benefit for the commercial network of the town, and also for the consumer since in total 6,000 euros in vouchers for purchases in local businesses were distributed among citizens ”.
De la Hoz added that the health situation “has marked the work of the Department during this year, as for example in the Christmas campaign, not being able to hold large events. Therefore, the Christmas decoration and lighting was increased, the traditional visit of Santa Claus could be carried out in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento, and carol concerts were heard by the students of the Music School of the Alteanense Philharmonic Society. ESMUAltea ”.
Finally, the mayor said that “one of the priorities” that the Department has been working on has been the promotion of the town’s gastronomy, given that “Altea offers traditional and quality cuisine, with first-rate establishments. This is why the Department of Commerce has worked on the gastronomic conferences ‘Plat de calent’, ‘Ruta de la tapa’ and ‘Cuina de les barques’, which have grown in participation compared to previous years and have had greater media repercussion since each year there are more regional and national media that echo them, consolidating, in addition, their advertising in three gastronomic fairs of great importance: FITUR, Madrid Fusión and Alicante Gastronómica ”.
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Eddie is an Australian news reporter with over 9 years in the industry and has published on Forbes and tech crunch.