This week the Official State Gazette (BOE) has collected the honorable mention that the Secretary of State for Commerce has awarded to Dénia for its commercial initiatives. In addition, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism has highlighted these initiatives in the context of the 2022 National Domestic Trade Awards.
The Dénia Town Hall sent a dossier with the projects and initiatives developed in the city to the event, highlighting its main line of interest: the union between the incipient digital commerce and traditional local products and establishments. Among these projects and initiatives, the Councilor for Commerce, Sandra Gertrudix, highlights the campaign of the Municipal Market Take an Easter cabasset, the Mercat cookbook with traditional dishes, the shop window contest for Christmas, Nit de la Llum, the Valentine's campaign, the campaign flower mother of mother's day, the Dénia Stock or the night open.
Bet on digitization
The Department of Commerce is committed to digital commerce in the face of new market behavior. To fight against the digital gap that hinders digitization, Creama offers all kinds of free courses focused on digital marketing, social networks, web page creation, storytelling, ecommerce or Google Ads.
So that financing would not be a problem either, aid such as "Avalem Comerç" or "Emprenem Comerç" (helping financially to create new businesses and invest in existing ones) have been made public, always putting the focus on entrepreneurs (with aid from European Next Generation funds or EAUTOP aid from the European Social Fund, in addition to mentoring programs such as the Llamp program (from the Directorate General for Entrepreneurship) or the Green Entrepreneurship program (from the Ministry of Ecological Transition). made the "App Dénia" application available to citizens (it puts the public administration in contact with citizens).
The city strategies office has also been created in order to manage the different strategic plans and the different aids to companies (such as those for a decrease in turnover as a result of COVID-19 or aid to companies due to the energy crisis, among others). ). Some of the central projects of the plan are "Dénia Smart City", the digital platform "Dénia Marketplace" (deniaonline), promoted by the Chamber of Commerce with a grant from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the Smart Tourist Destination Plan or the BIKCEEI-SCALE program of the European Center for Business and Innovation (CEEI).
Currently, the Dénia Town Hall has requested a grant from the Next Generation funds of the European Union through the Ministry of Commerce and Tourism.
At the regional level, youth entrepreneurship projects have been started, such as the School for Young Entrepreneurs Marina Alta, and the preservation of local commerce and production with the “Bancalet Project” of the UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy.
Dénia, city of commerce
Other initiatives have been aimed at beautification, improving accessibility and promoting Dénia as a city with a growing commercial impact. Parking and downtown redevelopment have been the cornerstones of the project.
The main street, Marqués de Campo, has been closed to road traffic. After pedestrianizing the center, the project began to increase the number of free parking spaces on the outskirts of the city. At the same time, work has been done to improve signage in commercial areas and the establishment of more urban furniture, which has been accompanied by civic awareness campaigns among citizens, such as the "Eau de Toilette" campaign that distributed bottles of water among pet owners to clean up their pets' necessities on public roads.
The council has established key events for tourism and commerce in the city such as the Feria de les Associacions, the Nit de la llum, the Dénia Shopping Party, the stock market, or the local commerce day (October 25). In addition, the role of the Consell de Comerç has been encouraged, reactivated in 2020.
The renovation of the Market
One of the great bets of the Department of Commerce and Markets has been the renovation of the Mercat de Dénia. The changes that the council has made in the food market have modified the pavement (with an investment of 69.105 euros), part of the roof (with a budget of 4.331,80, financed 70% by the Diputación de Alicante) and the communication network, with a new public address system and the implementation of an LED screen (with a total cost of 21.000 euros, subsidized, respectively, by the Ministry of Sustainable Economy and the Alicante Provincial Council).
In the fish market area, the space was adapted to meet safety and accessibility standards (the final project involved an investment of 34.000 euros, partially financed by the Ministry of Sustainable Economy, Productive Sectors, Commerce and Labor), in addition to install a ceramic mural in order to beautify the building.
To adapt traditional commerce to current commercial dynamics, a web page was created: https://www.mercatdedenia.es/, and the sustainable messaging project Rodando Ecomensajería for distribution was developed.
