This event was divided into three roundtables. The first, entitled «Your health: our patient and our customer», offered a scientific view of today’s situation. Doctor Vicente Pallarés insisted on the importance of eating well and of taking exercise as a basis of the Welfare Society, especially after considering that recent data indicate a constant increase in cardiovascular diseases. Moreover, Doctor Vicente Pascual underlined the importance of following an appropriate Mediterranean diet to improve quality of life. Javier Martínez, a professor from the Department of Food Technologies at the Polytechnic University of Valencia, stressed that Castellón has a good climate, product, landscape and character; that is, it has all the elements needed to make it a quality health-based tourism destination.
This roundtable finished with speeches made by Laura Fidalgo and Nicolás Barrera. Fidalgo spoke about the Penyagolosa Territori Intel.ligent Project, which insists on the importance of cuisine with personality, where those who come to eat learn about the history, culture, tradition and identity of the territory behind each dish. Barrera explained the strategy adopted by the Pou de Beca Restaurant, based on offering a good, clean and fair product; that is, it is healthy, from the area it is eaten in and is seasonal. Moreover, it is also fair in terms of producers, processors and consumers.
The second roundtable entitled «Healthy Marketing: New Markets and Trends» has counted on the participation of Joan Quiles and Alberto Genové, who offered their view on the actions taken by Public Administrations and various restaurant associations to encourage a healthy offer. Both coincide in the importance of a healthy offer for consumers to choose, and in providing a balanced supply that mitigates future risks. During their speech, they explained the actions taken in recent years by the Generalitat Valenciana (Valencian Regional Government), and stressed diet cards, menus for a healthy heart and the Coeliac Disease Restaurant Club.
This event finished with the roundtable entitled «Communication and Technology: the glue between Tourism and Health». Experts have explained that a destination will only be able to occupy a position for an increasingly demanding public if it is able to correctly communicate all that is implicitly contained in a healthy tourism product. In this block, several espaitec-linked firms made the technology developed in the espaitec park known in order to differently communicate their existing gastronomic and healthy supply in the province. Inhetid explained its capacity to create emotions and its experience in the gastronomic workshops for chef Paco Roncero. Pinchaaqui.es presented the keys of communication that apply to the healthy tourism, while Doing 3D gave a demonstration on its 3D technology with which restaurant menus come to life. This roundtable also included the speech made by Verónica Nolte of Espuymar.
This first edition of the 1 Conference on Health and Tourism is a starting point for a series of conferences whose objective is to offer a favourable framework for collaboration among firms from several sectors to promote the generation of new business opportunities in health and tourism matters. This event was financed by the Generalitat Valenciana.
