The Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) will launch tomorrow the training program of the Network of Coal Tourism Experiences, promoted through the Institute for Just Transition (ITJ) and its affiliated entity, the City of Energy Foundation (CIUDEN), as the department itself pointed out this Tuesday.
The initial session will take place this Wednesday at the headquarters of the City of Energy Foundation in Ponferrada (León). According to MITECO, this initiative aims to train local managers in the design and dissemination of tourism proposals linked to the mining-industrial heritage of coal "to diversify the economy of the territories, increase their cooperation, and create new opportunities."
This day opens a program aimed at creating "a common narrative" and articulating the mining-industrial heritage with the landscape, culture, gastronomy, and active tourism. Additionally, aspects related to marketing, sustainability, and accessibility will be addressed. However, MITECO has emphasized that each meeting will be adjusted to the particularities of each territory.
Thus, the planned training activities in Asturias will focus on converting mining resources into products and tourism experiences, as well as strengthening cooperation between municipalities, facilities, and companies in the mining basins. In As Pontes, the focus will be on developing a territorial narrative that links the history of coal and energy with the landscape, the transformation of the environment, and the new opportunities associated with tourism.
In the province of Córdoba, the sessions will seek to consolidate the interpretation and enhancement of the mining-industrial heritage of the Guadiato Valley, while advancing in the design of integrated experiences within a joint tourism offer. For its part, in Teruel, work will be done on the professionalization of agents, the preservation and dissemination of mining memory, the management of resources, and the development of tourism products that connect the main heritage elements of the mining basins.
Currently, the Network is made up of León, Teruel, Córdoba, As Pontes de García Rodríguez (A Coruña) and the mining regions of Asturias, although the project remains open to the entry of new participants and territories. With this program, Ecological Transition aims to consolidate a stable structure of collaboration between areas with a mining past to "share knowledge, develop joint tourist products and enhance the common heritage as a differentiating element of the just transition territories."