Salou, much more than sun and beach tourism

The Cecilio Rodríguez Gardens Pavilion in Madrid's Retiro Park hosted the 2025 International Journalism Awards, presented by the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents (ACPE), the International Press Club (CIP), the Association of Arab Journalists and Writers in Spain (APEAE) and the African Press Association (APA). 

Among the awards presented by the International Press Club was the Best Spanish Correspondent Award. Salou Playa de Europa, awarded to David Alandete, a journalist with ABC, Cadena COPE and Telemadrid. 

On the programme ‘De cara al mundo’, we were able to talk to the mayor of Salou, Pere Granados, the authority who was present and inaugurated a heartfelt celebration with many messages about what the media represents.

For a town like Salou, the information published in the Spanish media is important, but so is the information published in the foreign media. 

Yes, of course. Salou is a well-known municipality in Spain and internationally.  

In fact, it is a tourist town with many visitors from Europe and the United Kingdom and other countries such as the United States and even Canada. Many tourists come to visit us from there, so media coverage is very important for a tourist town that needs to attract visitors. 

His management is focused not only on enjoying the sun and the beach, but also on offering an extraordinary range of activities in all sectors. 

Salou has 25 coves and beaches with a coastal path with 43 viewpoints. A fantastic, beautiful Mediterranean landscape. The sun and the beach are not enough, and we have been working with different tourist products such as gastronomy, sport and natural heritage, so that we can work 365 days a year. 

We have been working on deseasonalisation, with examples such as the ‘Salouween’ programme, which had a considerable tourist capacity. The aim is for tourists to enjoy different experiences in Salou in addition to the typical seasonal summer tourism with sun and beach.

History, archaeology, sport, accommodation, gastronomy, Festa al Cel... Salou offers much more than sun and beach. 

You have just listed the tourist products we have been working on. Festa al Cel is the most important air show in Spain. Salou has brought it back after a five-year hiatus in Catalonia. It is a major exhibition of the Spanish Air and Space Armed Forces. The Army also participated, etc. It was an incredible show. 

It's an example of the different formats we have for organising major events. 

We also have the Spanish Rally Championship, which coincides with Mr Spain. And we also have the Miss Spain contest. Salou is always buzzing, we always have something going on.

If someone wants to play golf or if a team wants to practise a sport, they can, along with archaeology, gastronomy, wines... You are promoting a series of offers for people to enjoy in Salou, with activities that have a seal of high quality. 

In terms of sport, for example, we aim to have excellent facilities so that Salou residents can practise sport; in fact, Salou has 32,000 inhabitants and three sports centres. I don't think there are many towns like that. We use all of this to attract tourists who want to practise sports tourism, but there are also magnificent private facilities that allow us to host major sporting events and technical training. 

Salou is very well prepared for sports tourism. In addition, there is the whole wine theme. Catalonia has 12 Designations of Origin, 8 of which are 20 or 30 minutes from Salou. So, for us, it's something we can offer. 

Anyone who wants to practise any kind of wine-related activity in these eight Designations of Origin can do so because they will enjoy a unique landscape and also the fantastic wines we have there, such as Priorat or Terra Alta, etc. There are up to eight, so there is a wide range on offer. This diversification of the tourist product is important to us, because it means that there are things to do in Salou 365 days a year. You can have a great time. 

History is also very important to us. We have a great historical narrative that has never been told, and we are recovering it. 

And, in fact, Salou will be the capital of Catalan culture in 2025. There is enormous potential that we are recovering for residents, to reinforce their sense of belonging, but also to reinforce and strengthen their sense of pride in belonging to the municipality of Salou. But it is being transformed into a tourist product, because obviously history and historical heritage must also be known by people who are not from the area, and it serves to enable them to enjoy and learn about a magnificent past that helps them to understand the present and improve the future. 

And speaking of the future, can you give us a preview of what you are preparing to ensure that Salou continues to attract people from Spain and abroad in the coming months? 

We never stop innovating. In other words, Salou is constantly on the move. 

Innovation is a basic concept. In fact, we have created a chair, and I say we have created it because it was our idea, it was Salou's idea, which is called Research and Innovation in Tourism Products. It is a chair within the Rovira i Virgili University, which is the University of Tarragona. 

That is what Salou does, that is, it continuously innovates, looking for new products to attract visitors every year. In fact, Salou receives more than two million visitors every year, and more than 75% are loyal, meaning they return. 

The goal is for them to have a good time, not get bored, and always have something new to do. 

What are we working on? Was that the specific question? Well, we are working on restoring Salou's historical heritage. It will be the new tourism product, and we will be presenting it right here in Madrid. The day before the Fitur fair, Salou has been doing this for some time now, this will be the fifth year, making a very powerful presentation in Madrid. 

And, in addition, we are accompanied by twelve or fifteen chefs representing Salou's gastronomy, because they prepare a menu that is related to the tourist product we are presenting. And I have also referred to a whole range of wines from the different Designations of Origin that we have around Salou. So, it is a presentation of tourism, gastronomy and oenology. 

It is a very important complement. We are doing it here in Madrid, on 20 January to be precise.

We will mark 20 January in our diaries. We will be there. You just mentioned those 32,000 inhabitants. In municipal politics, you talk about initiatives, but everything requires specific services. Salou has services for around 32,000 inhabitants, a limited budget, but there are several months of the year when two million people come to Salou. How do you do it? How should you have the support and resources to be able to cope with this without having a heart attack every night? 

Well, here's a historical issue: there needs to be a new model for financing tourist municipalities. In other words, tourist municipalities have a stable population, but they receive a lot of visitors, which means they have to provide services. 

Because, in addition, if you live off tourism, you have to provide services, and good services at that. This means that financing is needed. The current system is not good for financing the services that tourists require. 

We are at a disadvantage. So, what cannot happen is that, because you live in a tourist municipality, you should have a higher tax burden than anyone else. Because, ultimately, it is not only the municipality that lives off the tourist industry, but the entire economy. 

Because when tourists are here, they consume everything. Things that tourist municipalities do not produce. But, apart from this, from a new financing system, there is a question of justice and fairness.  

It is not fair that residents, meaning permanent residents, not temporary residents, in second homes, and then also economic activities, through the IBI, which is what we have, the municipalities, to be able to finance ourselves, have to suffer this payment to provide services to third parties. In the same way that the public administration requires residents to finance the services we provide, tourists, who are temporary residents, should also contribute and show solidarity with the destination. And that is where I am referring to the tourist tax. 

The tourist tax has to be implemented, because tourists have to contribute to the cost of the services that we, the public authorities, provide them with. I hear arguments such as ‘I don't know if tourists already pay taxes’, and I say that residents do too, because residents are not exempt from paying taxes. Tourists pay taxes, such as VAT, when they consume, etc. But residents pay exactly the same. Therefore, we must start to raise awareness and implement it definitively. We already have this in Catalonia, but it is not for this purpose. 

The tourist tax should be implemented now so that tourists, I insist, show solidarity with residents and it is not simply an extension of taxation on residents. 

That demand is set out there. I would like to end this interview, Mr Granados, with a topic that I think is very relevant, which is how do you manage in Salou to have people from more than 100 nationalities living together? Now that the issue of immigration is a hot topic and is being used politically. 

Immigration is necessary. We need immigration to move the economy forward, services, and so on. 

When countries evolve economically, there are ultimately jobs that natives do not want to do because they have a choice. Those jobs have to continue, such as services, for example. That said, policies must be about integration. 

In other words, when someone from outside comes in with a different culture, which is not the same as yours, what you have to do is promote integration policies and also develop policies for that integration with elements that are common to all of them. The common element is the culture of the country, the culture of the municipality. Therefore, encourage them to participate as much as possible in cultural organisations, to participate as much as possible in sports clubs and to integrate. That is the best policy there is. Then, we will respect their customs or cultures, but they have to adapt to ours. That is why we have to encourage it, not force it. 

Because in the end, when we see, for example, the celebration of the Fiesta Mayor de Salou, and you see in that ‘cercavila’, as we say there, which is a ‘seguici’, where there are different collas, groups of traditional and popular Salou culture, and you see that there are people of colour and from different backgrounds, that is integration, that is inclusion. And that is what ultimately makes a unique society, because it adapts, and we have to adapt. 

Salou, a highly recommended place to go not only for the sun and the beach, but also to enjoy the many attractions that its mayor has told us about. 

I just want to say one thing. I must congratulate you on the organisation of the awards. Never stop doing them, for highlighting the value of all the work that goes into journalism. 

That work involves explaining what is happening in the world with honesty, sensitivity and passion. So, well done, congratulations, really, you are doing a great job.