Mayor, Vicent Grimalt, and the Councilor for Commerce, Sandra Gertrudix, presented yesterday to the city's Trade Council the Dénia Strategic Trade Plan 2021-2025, a commitment made by the municipal government with the sector that, in the current context, is more necessary than ever. And it is that the Strategic Trade Plan was born as a road map to face the future panorama and guarantee the survival of the sector. Its final objective, highlighted the mayor in the presentation of the plan to the media held this morning, "It is to achieve a modern and innovative urban commerce, adapted to the new realities of the market". The Strategic Plan has been prepared by the Auren company.
Grimalt has emphasized that it is a plan for the entire sector, "not only for the merchants of the center or the Calle Marques de Campo". Regarding this road, one of the main commercial axes of Dénia, the strategic plan resolves that its definitive pedestrianization must be carried out and is understood as a logical process, since it is also recommended by the Mobility Plan, a previous Commercial Plan and even the Regional Sectorial Action Plan for Commerce of the Valencian Community (PATSECOVA), which invites people to gain spaces for pedestrians.
The mayor also wanted to make an appeal to the commercial sector of the city to request their collaboration in carrying out the dynamization, innovation and adaptation of the sector. “Without their complicity and joint work with the Consell de Comerç, the Department of Commerce and the company that will monitor the plan, it will be difficult to move forward. The city council puts everything it has to put, but it needs your involvement ".
The step prior to the development of the commercial action plan for the next five years has been the preparation of a diagnosis of the current situation. The Councilor for Commerce, Sandra Gertrúdix, has highlighted some of the most relevant data in the document, such as the fact that the commercial sector is one of the basic sectors in the local productive system or that the commercial specialization index, which provides The spaces are attractive, it is not high in general, except in Marqués de Campo street, where it is very high. The other areas of great activity in the city, Paseo del Saladar and Patricio Ferrándiz, which are, in turn, the areas with the highest population density, present a commercial mix closer to what we would call neighborhood or proximity commerce.
It is also striking that 16% of the commercial activity points were inactive at the time of writing the diagnosis, which was prior to the mobility and activity restrictions imposed by the pandemic.
The Mercat Municipal, however, comes out very well in this diagnosis, which recognizes that the facility has managed to incorporate assets such as efficient promotion and an added quality service, acting as a true commercial locomotive in that area. The action plan proposes for the market actions that achieve its position as Commercial Public Equipment specialized in fresh and healthy food, for which the comprehensive renovation of the property is contemplated as measures and even thinking about its relocation to more accessible areas; a regulatory and internal aesthetic adaptation and a boost to its digital transformation. This objective is closely linked to another of those proposed: to increase the display and enhancement of the local product of Dénia.
The diagnosis of the current situation also reveals that, for the size of our municipality, the atomization of commercial associations is very high.
The areas of action proposed by the Strategic Plan have been explained by the manager of commercial urban planning of the Auren company, Manuel Martínez, who has listed as the first strategic objective, the positioning of Dénia as a commercial destination of reference. For this, one of the advantages that the municipality has is its distance from the big cities. Likewise, an increase in operability and public-private collaboration should be sought through the Consell de Comerç and seeking progress in the professionalization of business and commercial associations.
The objectives are also to speed up pedestrian and road accessibility to the commercial urban center, to facilitate shopping with commercial urban planning actions and to increase the tourist-commercial, and even cultural, linkage of urban commerce, with the creation of specific itineraries.
It also aims to create a global trade brand for the city, which provides Dénia's trade with an image and personality that define it as a unique and homogeneous space, and position it in its market area and target audience, and to development of programs to attract entrepreneurs, nomadic workers and investors.
The full action plan and the diagnosis of the current situation can be consulted on the website of the City Council of Dénia (www.denia.es) from next Monday.
