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America's Cup toasts Valencia

The famed sailing event joins a host of other major attractions in this quickly evolving Spanish city.

Associated Press
Published May 18, 2007

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VALENCIA, Spain - Forget Barcelona, Bilbao or Seville. Now it's Valencia's turn to bask in the international limelight. - Spain's third-largest city has ascended travelers' must-visit list since America's Cup winner Alinghi - the sailing team from landlocked Switzerland - picked it to host the 32nd America's Cup. - But the America's Cup is only one part of an aggressive urban transformation plan for Valencia that began 19 years ago.

"To be here over the last 20 years has been very humbling; it's a big success because the city has totally changed, " said Jose Salinas, director of Valencia Tourism since 1991.

"Valencia has taken a big leap forward; it is now a more open and cosmopolitan city than it was before, and the people - locals and visitors - are embracing it."

Tourists have responded, just as they did with Barcelona following the 1992 Olympic Games and Bilbao after the opening of the Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim Museum in 1997.

The latest statistics show Valencia experienced the biggest jump in tourism of any European city. The 1.6-million visitors who came here in 2006 were nearly five times the number who came in 1992.

Better travel connections, including the rise of low-cost airlines, the advent of the Internet, a mushrooming of hotels, conference halls and museum and art galleries are why Valencia's tourism numbers are expected to leapfrog the 2-million visitor mark in 2007. Among Spanish cities, only Madrid and Barcelona get more tourists.

Tourist arrivals in Valencia this year will include a million people expected for the America's Cup, which begins June 23. But to many, the Palace of the Arts is what put Valencia on the map.

Designed by superstar architect Santiago Calatrava, who happens to be a native son, the $334-million palace is part of a complex of museums and other attractions called the City of Arts and Sciences. The futuristic white buildings, most of them designed by Calatrava, include a planetarium, an aquarium and the arts palace, which is an opera house that looks a little like a floating gladiator helmet.

Like Bilbao, Valencia has a Calatrava-designed bridge, a renowned work by British architect Norman Foster (the Conference Center) and a city mayor willing to spend to transform the city.

Valencia's City of Arts and Sciences is set within the Turia Gardens, a drained river renovated and turned into a park in the 1990s, and Calatrava's next work will be here also, a 230-foot-tall public square to be completed in 2008. "Agora" will be dwarfed only by the neighboring "Three Towers, " three skyscrapers ranging from 720 to 987 feet, with the latter 81-story building to be the tallest in Europe.

Mayor Rita Barbera has overseen the renovation of 64 historic sites in the city at a cost of $241-million during her 16-year tenure. Not since the 15th century has this mercantile city - still known for its UNESCO-protected silk markets - seen such a renaissance.

Barbera and Salinas were responsible for the America's Cup bid in 2003, which sped up the planned renovation of the port. Port America's Cup is a public harbor facility with team bases, exhibits, cafes, restaurants, concerts and giant screens broadcasting the race.

With the America's Cup returning to Europe for the first time in 156 years, the growing interest in the event coincides with a friendlier format. Organizers have shortened the races and put fans closer to the sailing, thanks to Valencia's deep shoreline. The race also is gradually shedding its reputation as an elitist event for the yachting crowd in places like Newport, R.I., where it was held for 50 or so years.

"It was a win-win situation. Thanks to the America's Cup we have been able to advance the work behind certain infrastructures, " Salinas said. "The exposure from this event - an international event that will hit all across the world - has accelerated the process and provided the city with a platform to improve its tourist image, giving Valencia a certain presence as a unique destination." Consorcio 2007, a partnership between the mayor's office, the regional and national governments and private firms, has spent $680-million on infrastructure surrounding the marina, which includes Port America's Cup, the docklands and some of the city's oldest neighborhoods. And it's only a fragment of the $2.65-billion spent since works initially began in 2003.

Architectural firms GHT and Jean Nouvel will reshape the immediate area surrounding Port America's Cup once the event is over, with the Turia Gardens extended to the sea, clearing out old industrial lands, parts of "la huerta" (crop-growing hamlets) and a section of the Grau neighborhood to make way for high-rise apartment blocks and green spaces.

Lying 500 yards from the port is Cabanyal, a once-proud fishing village that is the oldest neighborhood after the historic city center, a working-class "pueblo" of marina homes showing the signs of age, with many of the mosaic-covered buildings overtaken by squatting gypsies.

If the six-lane Avenue Blasco Ibanez is extended to the beach as planned, it will run directly through here, taking out 10 city blocks with it.

Even though the America's Cup is expected to generate $4.9-billion in revenue while creating 40, 770 jobs for the region over the next eight years, not everyone is happy about the changes in Valencia. "To build (America's Cup) infrastructure, we've destroyed heritage. We're losing our identity in exchange for tourism, " said 43-year-old firefighter Juanjo Martinez, out watching the yachts from Port America's Cup.

"Building attractions like the Science and Arts complex, which is a cultural attraction, will bring many tourists and is a different thing. But building the infrastructure for the America's Cup is only for a certain few people. After it leaves, who will this area serve?"

Salinas, the tourism director, believes the investment will pay for itself.

"We don't look at the Cabanyal project as a way of attracting tourists. It's thought of in a way of what's best for the city. It is a side effect of change that will be good for city sense and its citizens, " he said.

Then there are the costs.

"The America's Cup? It's great. I get to work longer hours for less money than before, " 62-year-old taxi driver Jose Gutierrez said. "Valencia is Spain's most beautiful city. But it comes at a cost and I'm paying out so it can look like it does today."

More neighborhoods and a new soccer stadium will come, maybe even a Formula One racetrack. A recent newspaper editorial signaled Valencians are tired of change - and just want tourists to accept them for who they are.

"Cities are not theme parks that have to compete to see who offers the most novel attraction. While (London, Paris, Rome) knew to conserve their identity, here it has been lost forever, " Gutierrez said.

 

If You Go

America's Cup: Yacht race, begins June 23 in Valencia, Spain; www.americascup.com. Port America's Cup, a public harbor facility with team bases, exhibits, cafes, interactive activities, concerts and screens broadcasting the races, is free and open 24 hours. Visitors can also buy tickets for a half-day or all-day spectator boat excursions to see the races from the water.

Valencia, Spain: Go to www.spain.info. Search for "Valencia." Click on the second flag on the top left banner for English. For general information about visiting Spain, contact the tourist office in Miami at (305) 358-1992.

 

[Last modified May 18, 2007, 12:04:20]