A few days ago, Newspaper INFORMATION journalist for the Iberian Press Group, David Navarro, summed up with great success a National Institute of Social Security statistical study of the number of people earning some form of income from Alicante. Compared to non-state. The result is striking and even surprising. If it were not for the constant upheavals we are in due to political and economic reasons, the news that 45.7% of Alicante’s population benefited from the State in some way should have been discussed in the country’s newspapers, radio and television. Community of Valencia for what these data imply. It wouldn’t be bad if the leaders of the leading political parties of the Valencian Community had a comment on this. This amount includes three major groups: civil servants, retirees and the unemployed.
The importance of a State structured as a social and democratic State of Law defined by the Constitution of our country has been demonstrated once again. Fundamentally, what sustains institutions and the democratic system itself is a country’s way of understanding modern life in which all its inhabitants have to move forward together as much as possible economically as well as culturally. There are no social bankruptcies that lead to failed states. The reverse would be to go back to the Middle Ages. And for this, it is essential that the Treasury collects the fair share of each citizen, that is, according to their personal and family situations and their economic income. The basic idea is that we all contribute according to our means so that no one is left behind, this also benefits the whole society.
In this context, where almost half of Alicante’s population earns some public income, we must not forget the importance of tourism for the Valencian Community and especially for the Province of Alicante. This is why part of the Valencian left is determined to discredit tourism and put all possible restrictions on tourism. The arguments are varied and varied; if they spoil the environment, the majority of foreign visitors are drunks doing it balcony, if they raise housing prices, take advantage of our health, etc…
Any country around us would like to have the number of tourists that visit Spain every year. We were the second country in the world for foreign visitors until the arrival of the pandemic, which turned all the usual elements of our lives upside down. It has sometimes been said that neighboring countries such as Tunisia, Turkey or Egypt are rivals of the Valencian Community for the concept of sun and sand. I do not think so. It is enough to know some of these countries, to have visited them, to understand that they are far from the quality of our beaches, infrastructures and good works. Spain lags behind only France in terms of visitor numbers, and there are reasons for that. Proud of.
However, even though we are the envy of all countries in the Mediterranean region due to the fact that the tourism industry has a cross-effect on society that allows, among other things, to maintain the 45.7% protection I mentioned earlier. In recent years, a certain part of the Valencian left has joined the trend of speaking badly about tourism, conceptualizing it as something seedy and frustrating. This fashion has been one of the reasons why hotel and catering businesses in the Valencian Community have had difficulties finding staff, but it has also meant that the political right has emerged as the so-called sole defender of the much-needed tourism model. for the Spanish economy. Why should we be ashamed of being a tourist country? It’s a mystery.
Again, examples of this initiative by a certain part of the left have been the approval of the so-called tourist tax (actually a fine) in some cities and the harassment of tourist offices (no regulation). A number of dilapidated homes will be put up for auction in the Cabanyal district of Valencia city, on the Malvarrosa coast, a highly degraded area due to crime and drug trafficking. Sandra Gómez, deputy mayor of PSPV, warned that if one of the buyers rehabilitates one of the houses auctioned to make it a tourist house, the house will be expropriated from the owner and the money will not be refunded. If there is one thing that the political parties forget when they come to power in this Valencia neighborhood, it is that it has become a touristic neighborhood. On the other hand, someone with a knowledge of law should inform Sandra Gómez that her threat consists in lying and that rule based on personal obsession is the opposite of doing politics.