Costa del Sol mayor compares tourism 'joint venture' to Louis Vuitton and Gucci

Torrox on the eastern Costa del Sol has used the strapline 'the best climate in Europe' for over four decades. To give the town its due this was certified by a scientific study in 2010. Meanwhile, the Sierra Nevada in Granada province is home to Andalucía's only ski resort. Now, the town of Monachil in the Sierra Nevada, and Torrox, have signed a tourism agreement that aims to exchange visitors and carry out joint promotions highlighting the fact that they are just over 100 kilometres away from each other.

After an initial agreement in May 2024 and its presentation at the last Fitur tourism fair in Madrid, which took place in January, the ‘Marveleta’ project was signed on Tuesday4 February at Torrox town hall by mayor of Torrox, Óscar Medina, his counterpart in Monachil, José Morales, and Jesús Ibáñez, director of Cetursa, the company dependent on the Junta de Andalucía which manages the Granada ski resort.

Medina said in a statement that the "collaboration and tourism agreement" that is part of "an increasingly competitive world", in which tourism has been the main source of wealth since the 1960s. He described the agreement as "a joint venture between two well-known brands, as is the case with other major commercial companies such as Adidas and Gucci or Nike and Louis Vuitton, among others".

According to Medina, Cetursa was created 60 years ago and already then Torrox was known in Germany thanks to Bau-Hoffman. "This agreement will have many benefits for both municipalities and for the business fabric, it will give added value to the Andalucía brand and we will be an example for other destinations to follow," he said.

The mayor announced that working meetings will now be held to shape and advance the collaboration between the two destinations and that the aim is to "request European funds to promote tourism which is important in Torrox and the Sierra Nevada".

Medina highlighted the projection and growth planned for Torrox and Monachil, with projects such as the future marina, the golf course and the 4,600 homes planned for the Calaceite and Puerto Narixa areas of the town. "The union that we are leading is going to mean a spectacular change for Sierra Nevada and Torrox," said the mayor, who added that the "aim is to promote ourselves and promote agreements with sports associations, clubs and take this cultural union to tourism fairs in Berlin, London and Austria".

The mayor of Monachil said that the two towns can "collaborate in many ways, because we are both tourist municipalities that host hundreds of thousands of people". He went on to say that Monachil is "ten minutes from the Alhambra and we have the ski resort within our municipal area, with the Pradollano development, where we provide services".

The director of Cetursa described the agreement as "an excellent marriage because on the one hand we have the best ski resort you can have, with very important resources, which attracts tourists from all over the world, and on the other hand we advertise here to go skiing in the Sierra Nevada, because the Germans are very important to us".