The University of Valencia, through the Office of the Vice-Principal for Territorial Projection and Participation and Provincial Council of Valencia, València Terra i Mar Provincial Board for Tourism, in collaboration with the Municipal Council of Cullera, organised the First Conference on "Desarrollo territorial y turismo del litoral"(Territorial development and coastal tourism. The future after the crisis).

This conference is aimed to inform the decision makers of the local administrations located in the Valencian coastline (councils and groupings of municipalities) of what are the guidelines that define and influence the coastal tourism.

Currently we live in a crisis context where Valencian agriculture can hardly compete on price with products from the South, and where neither the traditional industry can hardly compete with the Orientals. Although the Valencian exports increased by 4.3% in 2012 compared with those of the previous year, the recovery is very slow and insufficient to create new jobs.

Although the tourism industry is not immune to the crisis due to the collapse of Spanish visitors, it is worth saying that this has been offset by the growth of foreign tourists, who increased their presence in Valencia during the summer 2012 and that in places such as Alicante, for the first time surpassed the Spanish.

The University of Valencia and the València Terra i Mar Provincial Board for Tourism intend with this initiative to create a forum for dialogue that helps to reflect, to enhance and to manage the tourism potential of the Valencian coast lands from contributions by specialists of the University of Valencia in this area.

This conference is aimed at political representatives, specifically at mayors and aldermen (areas of tourism, local development, culture and environment) of coastal municipalities of the Province Valencia.