Currently, the declarations of Festivals of National and International Tourist Interest are regulated in Order ITC/851/2019, of July 25, which regulates the declaration of festivals of national and international tourist interest. This order brought the promotional activities of the declared festivities into line with the reality of the information society. Other requirements included the following: that the corresponding party had its own website, that the number of search results in browsers and the number of followers in social networks were taken into account. However, the need for some changes has been noted, both in relation to the administrative processing of the festival itself, and the requirements to be assessed for its concession in such a way as to adapt to the new model of sustainable tourism management in its triple economic, social and environmental dimension.

1. In relation to the modifications related to the administrative processing of the festival, it should be noted the need to increase the maximum period to resolve, being the current one of three months, taking into account the numerous requirements to be assessed for the declaration of festival of national and international tourist interest and the need for the autonomous community to have more time to prepare its technical report that the applicant of the festival has to present together with the application. The modification of the current Ministerial Order will be an opportunity to include the necessary changes that allow greater flexibility in the procedure ensuring the guarantee of the rights of the applicants when presenting claims. Likewise, the current regime of positive administrative silence will be modified by negative administrative silence, avoiding the automatic granting without verification of the requirements, for reasons of general interest.
2. As for the aspects that are valued in the current Ministerial Order for the granting of the declaration of festivals of national tourist interest (article 3 of the Order), as well as those foreseen for festivals of international tourist interest (article 7 of the Order), it is advisable to simplify them while also including other new aspects that favor sustainable tourism and that reflect a positive and attractive image of the country. In addition, the weighting of the tourism criteria will be strengthened, according to the technical manual under review that will be published soon. In this sense, the challenges and objectives of the new sustainable tourism model that are developed through strategic plans and/or marketing plans, either at national and/or regional level, must be taken into account. A tales efectos se exigirá un plan de sostenibilidad, un plan de convivencia y gestión acústica y un plan de contingencias. It will be a good opportunity for the new regulation to consider the declarations of the festivities as a national and international tourist interest as an instrument to promote the seasonalization, deconcentration and diversification of tourism products and experiences, in such a way that maximum profitability is attracted and preserving the sustainability of the destinations making economic development compatible with the coexistence of the communities that host them.
3. The amendment of the Ministerial Order will address the participation of animals in the festivities that wish to be declared of national and international tourist interest, in such a way as to guarantee the good treatment of animals and to reflect a positive image of the country preserving the origin and traditions of the festivities in such a way as to guarantee the protection and welfare of the animals, specifying the cause of dismissal as animal abuse or violence/serious risk for people, in accordance with Law 7/2023, of 28 March, on the protection of the rights and welfare of animals.
4. Finally, we want to address a new regulation contained in the Ministerial Order regarding the dissemination of festivals, whether of festivals of national tourist interest or those of international tourist interest. The latest advances in social networks and in the use of artificial intelligence mean that communication and marketing plans have to be adapted to the new possibilities they offer. Taking into account the above, it is considered appropriate to incorporate in the dissemination plans of the corresponding festivities some aspects of mandatory form and others of optional form that allow to obtain a better assessment through verifiable quality indicators that will be established in the technical manual. In addition, compliance with universal accessibility requirements will be required.

Order ITC/851/2019, of 25 July, regulating the declaration of festivals of national and international tourist interest.

The opinion of the subjects potentially affected by the future standard and of the most representative organizations will be sought about:

1. The problems that are intended to be solved with the new standard
2. The need and opportunity for its approval
3. The objectives of the standard and
4. The possible alternative regulatory and non-regulatory solutions

The claims must be presented using the attached document model, or a similar one, clearly ordering and separating the different comments made, and identifying the paragraph and the text to which each one refers.

Only the responses in which the sender is identified will be considered, stating in them:

• Name and surname/denomination or social reason of the participant
• Organization or association (if applicable)
• Contact (email).

In general, the contributions received will be considered to be open to public dissemination. The parts of the information submitted that, in the opinion of the interested party, should be treated confidentially and therefore should not be freely disseminated, should be specifically indicated in the text of the contribution itself, not considering for this purpose the generic messages of confidentiality of the information.

Texto de la Orden Ministerial [PDF] [377.37 KB]

Modelo de documento para presentar alegaciones [PDF] [194.49 KB]

Memoria de análisis del impacto normativo (MAIN) [PDF] [290.37 KB]