15el Periòdic d’Andorrawww.elperiodic.ad DIVENDRES, 28 DE DESEMBRE DEL 2018

From December 1, 2017 to No-vember 30, 2018, Andorra has reached 8.3 million visitors. Of these, more than three milli-

on (3,055,585) were tourists, the hig-hest recorded figure, according to the minister of Tourism Francesc Camp. For the sixth consecutive year, the number achieved exceeded the pre-vious period (2% more than 2017), alt-hough the minister has already ad-vanced for some time now that the an-nual increase will be more moderate because «these past years have been very important».

Also, overnight stays has also in-creased with almost nine million (8,963,531), which increased average overnight stays, reaching 2.93 nights per tourist, a growth of 3% compared to last year. Camp emphasized that the Government had set itself the ob-jective of reaching the three million tourist and the nine million overnig-

Three million touristsThe number of overnight stays reach almost nine million while hikers stagnate with ups and downs

For the second consecutive year, Andorra exceed the 8.3 million visitors mark in one year

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ht stay mark by the end of 2019: «We have reached our goal a year in advan-ce and there are only missing 37,000 overnight stays to reach nine milli-on» the minister said, convinced that «with minimal effort, next year fore-casts will be exceeded». In addition, the data show that there has been a remarkable evolution of tourists and overnight stays over the past seven ye-ars, marked by a growth of tourists co-ming in the country (36.1%), which, in figures, represents 810,000 more tou-rists in 2018 than in 2011, when the current legislature began.

DECREASE IN NUMBER OF HIKERS/ Regar-ding the number of hikers, there were 5,242,952 entries, a figure that could have been higher if, last December, weather conditions were not forced to close the French-Andorran border for a few days. «Hikers are more sensi-tive to the weather than tourists and in just one month we lost 100,000, 80,000 of which were French» Camp said, noting that this was an excepti-

onal event. However, this stagnation, «is not a huge worry, since its the first time that that there has been a small decline of 0.1% in the last two years of growth» said the minister. Despite the significant loss, during the rest of the year there were almost 94,000 mo-re hikers which allowed a positive re-covery and a growth of between 1 and 2%, from January to November.

MORE THAN EIGHT MILLION/ For the se-cond consecutive year, the number of visitors (tourists and hikers) exce-eded eight million and for the fourth straight year the numbers of stays in-creased, exceeding 14 million, in a ye-ar where the weight of tourists repre-

sented 63%, and hikers 37%. Camp va-lued it very positively for the tourism sector, since 10 years ago the percen-tages were practically 50% and the so called norm should be «to boost and prioritize the number of overnight stays than visitors» meaning more tourists than hikers. For seasons, in the summer of 2018 the million tou-rists mark was achieved with an incre-ase of 42% and in the winter it excee-ded 1.5 million. In spite of this, the mi-nister said that «we will have to think about new activities for low season».

GOALS AND REALITY/ In general, the fore-casts made by the Ministry were fulfi-lled during the past year and the ba-lance of the tourist indicators was po-sitive. By nationalities, the entry of Spaniards was expected to grow by 1.8%, but the reality was 1.6%. By con-trast, the Executive had an increase of 2.8% of French tourists and reached 4%. Regarding the rest of the markets, forecasts marked a growth of 3.1% which was finally 3.4%, an increase

MARICEL BLANCH

Tourists at avinguda Carlemany.

that Camp attributed to the arrival of English visitors and from the Bene-lux region and Russia, that after ye-ars of economic decline is recovering.Regarding hikers, the minister affir-med that the Spanish market is «har-der to bring», whereas the French are coming more often than expected.

STRATEGIC SHOPPING PLAN / When asked about the strategic shopping plan that has to improve the situation of the country’s trade, the head of Tou-rism said that it is «more alive than ever» and that «the point that is gai-ning more strength» is that of online sales. Camp said that it is «everyone’s job» to reverse the situation and invi-ted traders to «put their part».

The month of November was bit-tersweet with regard to the number of French visitors to Andorra. Accor-ding to Camp, the first 15 days were very good, both with tourists and hi-kers, but during the second half, they suffered a decline of 8% due to the pro-tests of the yellow vests movement. H

15el Periòdic d’Andorrawww.elperiodic.ad DIMARTS, 10 DE JULIOL DEL 2018

Tema del dia CONEIXEMENT SOBRE L’ÚS DE LES TECNOLOGIES el Periòdicd

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orr

axxel Periòdic News

E N G L I S H E D I T I O N S A T 2 9

ANNUAL REPORT

They achieved three million mark a year before than expected and missing 37,000 stays to reach 9 million

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33 Simulation of the project ‘Granite and glass’.

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COST OVERRUN

The budget or fund changes that have undergone major projects such as The Cloud, the pedestrian bridge in the

CG1 or the use of Radio Andorra ha-ve alarmed the opposition. To this list, the Automobile Museum is now added, which has led to the outbre-ak of criticism. Last May, the Minister of Territorial Planning, Jordi Torres, stated that the forecasts of the cost is «more or less seven to eight million». Although all media used this figure, in response to a question from coun-selor Carine Montaner, the Govern-ment states that «the figure of six or seven million euros that the media published in May was not an evalua-tion of the cost, but a mere probabi-lity, of a random nature and without even a tentative target value because at that time there were no studies that endorsed a cost estimation».

According to the answer, «it is not feasible to carry out a budget estima-te of the work until the proposals of the architects are available and for the first time, they have had the op-portunity to reflect with the dedicati-on and the sufficient time on the con-

Criticism for management of ministry with public moneyThe Government denies a deviation from the budget for the museum

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crete solutions that will be resolved by the musem’s objectives». Thus, the fi-gure shown in May is a «probability» and «the probabilities are not resoun-ding assertions, but rather a simple and conditional approach, meaning it may vary depending on the propo-sals».Thus, they point out that the in-vestment figures are currently betwe-en 8.3 and 13.5 million, according to estimates by architects who have sub-mitted proposals to the tender.

CRITICISMS PUBLIC MONEY MANAGEMENT/ The opposition councilors were not surprised, but strongly criticizing the «public money management» of the ministry. «Unfortunately, it is no lon-ger surprising, it is nonsense» said Li-beral Minister Ferran Costa, adding that «they do not care about the was-te of public money and announce thi-ngs without knowing what they will do or what it will cost, just like The Cloud or the pedestrian bridge». H

MARICEL BLANCH

33 The head of government, Toni Martí.

The demonstration on December 17 against the labor reforms, abuse of rental prices and pensions has ma-de the government react. This was stated by the head of the Executive, Toni Martí, on RTVA, where he an-nounced that several «measures» are being studied to try to increase the purchasing power of citizens. As he said, the protest was the result of a «discomfort that comes from afar» and for that reason he will try to alle-viate with new proposals related to minimum wage, rents and pensi-ons. «I am aware that Andorra, for a matter of justice, must take measu-res to have more purchasing power» said the Head, despite not specifying how he intends to do it. He also an-ticipated that the change could oc-cur with the vote of a law of extre-me urgency, modifying the budget or freezing the rents one more year.

POLITICS

Government take measures to increase purchasing power

The head of government recognized that these measures «will not chan-ge the life» of «the middle class», but it does «help». In addition, he said he wants to meet the social agents, and he claimed the increase in the mini-mum wage «in the heat of economic crisis» or «increase and consolidate solidarity pensions».

ELECTIONS ON THE 7TH/ Martí also an-nounced that the elections will be held on April 7. The date has been chosen based on Holy Week and the World Cup Final, although it will depend on the final approval of the budgets, scheduled for mid-Febru-ary. The result that is extracted he-re will be the last public act of Mar-tí as the head of the Government.With regard to negotiations with the EU, he considered that a «good agreement» had been reached, es-pecially on the transitional period of 30 years for tobacco. H

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ANA

33 Lands that are part of the Saetde concession.

Torres «solution of tender for Concòrdia is in early stages»

The disagreements of the agreement of intent between Saetde and the co-mú of Encamp on the land of Con-còrdia could end with a tender. This was explained by the mayor of the parish, Jordi Torres, in declarations to ANA, where he expressed that the agreement is «in a very early stage», after the legal services of both parties analyzed it and started the first con-versations. A tender will go ahead if «we all agree with each other».

With the new tender, a legal way would have been found to allow the corporation to increase the term of

NEW PROJECT AGREEMENTS

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France has not positioned itself on abortion in Andorra

WOMEN’S RIGHTS

France has not positioned itself on the decriminalization of abortion in Andorra and says that it is an «in-ternal affair». The National Assem-bly thus responded on Tuesday to the La République En Marche par-liamentarian (LaREM), the same political party as Co-Prince Ema-nuel Macron, Laurence Gayte, who in October asked to know the of-ficial version of the Government. In the answer, «France stands for equality between men and women at the heart of its diplomatic acti-vity» and that «it is totally commit-ted to the rights of women to ha-ve their own body and universal

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access to sexual and reproducti-ve rights». In spite of this, it is af-firmed that the Andorran legis-lation on the voluntary interrup-tion of pregnancy corresponds solely to the authorities and citi-zens of the country, despite ensu-ring that the evolution of Andor-ra will be followed by France. Gay-te, who is also a member of the Women’s Rights Office, explai-ned in an interview with EL PERI-ÒDIC that the French president, among other functions, sancti-on and promulgate laws and that his role is «to process questions about the problems that can af-fect Andorran society and aborti-on is one of them». H

www.elperiodic.ad SATURDAY, 29 DECEMBER 20182 el Periòdic News

concession of the land «to at least 50 more years» since the concession for Saetde on the ski slopes ends in nine-teen years, insufficient time for the company to start the investments that are requested from the comú, which include the construction of se-veral buildings. «A ski lift can be paid off in ten or twenty years, but for a buil-ding you need at least 50» he said. Saetde accept the public tender to extend the term of

the concession if there are some gua-rantees in the specifications, since, when publicizing and competing the winner may be another company. For this reason, , it has been established that the money they will cease to earn after losing the concession will be es-tablished, as well as value of invest-ments they made over the land. H

‘Fiers à Cheval’ show will close the Poblet de Nadal

ACTIVITIES

The large show called Fiers à Cheval, from the French company Des Qui-dams, which became one of the star activities of the last edition, will be the main claim of the last weekend at the Poblet de Nadal, as reported by the Comú of Andorra la Vella. The five inflatable horses of three and a half meters in height will leave the public stunned with their magic mu-sic and choreography. The show will go through Meritxell avenue and will finish in Prince Benlloch street (in front of the comú), it will begin at 6:30 p.m.

The slide, the ice rink, the labyrinth and the post office, will be open until January 5

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This weekend’s program also in-cludes a new gastronomic session in the Plaça del Poble (from 13 to 16 hours) with the tasting of moun-tain rice with Abundi Monterde; and cocktails and music with Aitor Estela, bartender and finalist of Ba-cardi Legacy Andorra 2019 (tonight from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m). The th-ree Kings will come visit on the fifth of January and will travel, as usual, to the streets of Escaldes-Engordany and Andorra la Vella and will finish at the plaça del Poble.

On the other hand, the Magical Mail Office of Meritxell avenue, the 35 meter synthetic ice slide at the entrance of Riberaygua, and the ska-ting rink and the labyrinth of light and colors in the Plaza Guillemó will remain open until next Satur-day, January 5th. H

XAVIER PUJOL

33 Councilor Vilanova and Mayor Marin showing the new locker rooms.

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REBUILD OF SPORTS CENTRE

The swimming pools and the communal gym of Escaldes-Engordany will open on the 7th of January after the works

have been accelerated following the Serradells fire on November 22. «Af-ter this event we further increased the staff to advance much faster and be able to open before the official ope-ning» said Sports Counselor Jordi Vi-lanova, insisting that the reform was planned to last for eighteen months and they managed to finish it in 15».

Although at first it was minor works, in the end it was an integral re-form of all the sports equipment that has led to an investment of more than two million euros. «The differences are huge» Vilanova said. One of the main objectives was energy savings, LED lighting has been installed and the use of thermal water has been im-proved to heat the pool consuming less diesel, which will save roughly 70% of energy consumption.

The Serradells fire accelerates the opening of Escaldes poolThe works finish three months before schedule with much better facilities

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dren and for girls and for instructors» said the counselor.

Regarding the gym, it retains the same square meters, but has been dis-tributed more efficiently, so that the users’ circulation will be much more comfortable, and two new fitness ro-oms have been enabled. «The reform was necessary and we respond to 99% of the demands we received» highlig-hted Vilanova. In fact, citizens will be able to see all these changes in the open door days scheduled for January 2 to 4 between four in the afternoon and at ten in the evening.

However, he pointed out that the capacity limit will always have to be respected: «Serradells have an Olym-pic swimming pool and have many members, while we only have a 25-square-meter pool. If we add the Escaldes gym members here we can have a problem, but now we are luc-ky we have a single turnstile to con-trol the entrance and exit in the faci-lities and, therefore, awe can restrict access to the equipment if it reaches the limit of its capacity» explained the Sports Minister.

NEW PAYMENT METHODS/ For the new fa-cilities, four payment modes have be-en defined so that people pay what they really use: swimming pool, which costs 15 euros per month for adults; swimming plus gym, 21.50 eu-ros; swimming and fitness, 43.50 eu-ros; and the whole package, 49 euros. This change was due because in pre-vious years people who bought all of the offers would just usually use the swimming pool.

In any case, several discounts are planned to recover old users and add new members. Tuition will be free for the first four months; The younger children will enjoy a reduction in en-rollment in the swimming school; and both children and those over 65 will have a 50% discount on any of the subscriptions. «The prices are quite reasonable and we are not competing against the private sector» stressed Vi-lanova. They are also planning to of-fer a reduced subscription, specially designed to attract people in low-in-come hours and that will give access to all facilities. H

The works began in October last year and finished the works three months before schedule due to the recent fire

MAIN CHANGES/ However, the most visi-ble changes are the redistribution of facilities and new spaces, which ha-ve been made taking into account the client’s profile. «We have created a

mixed dressing room to help parents who bring their children to the pool after school and are often from the opposite sex. As a novelty, there are al-so exclusive changing rooms for chil-

MORE CAPACITY/ The new equipment has capacity for about 960 users and the intention is to be able to recover all the members before closing the centre to make the works, around 800, and bring new clients. «We belie-ve that the pace of registration can be very fast, unfortunately due to the Ser-radells issue» Vilanova stated.

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33 Mugshot of Martí Cots.

‘Rambo of la Cerdanya’ is under surveillance at La Comella

Martí Cots, better known as the ‘Ram-bo de la Cerdanya’, was detained on December 23 by the Andorran Poli-ce. He is currently in the penitenti-ary of La Comella, under strict and se-parate vigilance of the rest of the in-mates. The man, who escaped from a psychiatric center in Lleida, is accu-sed of carrying a weapon illegally and two violent robberies in homes in An-dorra, as well as other crimes com-mitted in Catalonia. The most recent one, is a robbery at the Alp de la Mas-sella hotel, where stole 15,000 euros that the accommodation kept in the

safe. For this reason, Spanish authori-ties are expected to request extraditi-on in the coming days.

According to RTVA, sources from the penitentiary centre said he would be subjected to a severe surveillan-ce protocol, given his level of dan-ger, and only when allowed by the psychological reports will be trans-ferred to the preventive module. The detention by the Andorran Police to-ok place on Sunday afternoon, after a neighbor from Auvinyà warned that there was a suspect near a home and his description coincided with that of Cots. In addition, Andorran agents were pending, as the police force of the Mossos d’Esquadra foresaw An-dorra as a possible hideout, and as predicted, he arrived through forest tracks with a 4x4 vehicle stolen in Alt Urgell.

DANGEROUS CRIMINAL

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Finally, Rambo was located in a ho-tel in Encamp and the group of speci-al police arrested him for possession of several weapons, a shotgun stolen in France and two guns, ammuniti-on and a large amount of cash . Cots is known as the Rambo of la Cerda-nya for having survived for two years in the mountains of the Pyrenees. He is now 49 with mental problems and has a long criminal record. H

The man is accused of carrying illegal weapons and thefts with violence

SATURDAY, 29 DECEMBER 2018 el Periòdic News www.elperiodic.ad 3

SATURDAY, 29 DECEMBER 2018 el Periòdic News4 www.elperiodic.ad el Periòdic News

Tonight, at 20:30h, MoraBanc play at home against Movis-tar Estudiantes (Madrid) who are 17th in the table, before

last place ahead of Delteco GBC. Mora-Banc are now 12th with five wins and eight defeats. Their opponents have won three games and lost nine.

Andorra’s last game they lost (85-79) in Lugo (Galicia) against Café Can-delas Breogán who are 16th. Movistar lost against Valencia (79-83) on home soil. Andorra’s main issue is com-peting against small clubs, especial-ly in the relegation zone. They have no problem beating big clubs both in the league and in the Eurocup. It may be lack of motivation or the opposite over confidence, but somehow they seem to lose, especially at the third quarter when they usually give up and drop their lead. Meaning despite that it may seem like an easy game, it is usually the opposite. Both teams al-so need the win, MoraBanc to get out of this loing streak and get over the hurdle and Estudiantes which may be more crucial for them to get out of the relegation zone. Another rea-son Andorra has to win is to show that they are more capable of winning de-spite losing their second option cent-

MARICEL BLANCH

33 Michelle Vitali dribbling in recent match at home.

They play at home at 20:30h with the return of their former center who left a few days ago to join the Spanish clubEL PERIÒDICANDORRA LA VELLA

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BASKETBALL 3 LIGA ENDESA

SKIING 3 GIANT SLALOM

Today, Mireia Gutiérrez will compete in the Semmering World Cup in Aus-tria. Gutiérrez had a metacarpal frac-ture on her left hand on December 8 during the training sessions of the World Cup in Saint Moritz and got operated the following day. Although it is an injury that requires a month and a half of recovery, Roger Vidosa, coach of the Andorran Ski Federati-on (FAE), said that «because she is we-aring a special splint and an adapted protection, she will not have to wor-ry about her hand and she can ski at 100%. Although, she will not have the

Gutiérrez, at Semmering World Cup with a splint

same strength because she has still not fully recovered yet. «We were able to do some trainning in Andorra that allowed us to decide if I could compe-te, we did some exercises similar to those that we will find and things we-re going well» she said. The Andorran skier made an effort to participate in the race in Courchevel (French Alps) on the 21st, but finally she ruled it out because she: «felt a lot of pain and I was unable to hold my ski poole». Re-garding the slope, she said that she feels comfortable and depending on the weather conditions she will not only race, but «compete to get my best results despite my injury». H

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CHRITOPHE PALLOT / AGENCE ZOOM

33 Mireia Gutiérrez at the World Cup in Levi.

Lima writes a book about trips and his collection of jerseys

Inter Club Escaldes became the stage of the presentation of the book: His-torias de camisetas: relatos del otro futbol (Stories of jerseys, tales of the other side of football) written by Ilde Lima.

The author of the book, Adrián Morales, narrates the work of the na-tional defender who collected jerseys from around the world. «It took me a while to write it, but I did it with great enthusiasm because the book talks about trips, jerseys and things that I have learned about football du-ring my life» he stated. On the other hand, Morales assured that «Ilde is a good representative of this modest football that I like and making the

EL PERIÒDIC ESCALDES-ENGORDANY

presentation at the headquarters of Inter is also a sign that I enjoyed the experience. I think the book is very good, with trips, contactwith small football fans and stories about clubs». Part of the money raised from the sale of the book, which can be ob-tained from Libros.com and soon on Amazon, will be destined for the Gol Solidari project (a local charity pro-gramme), the club’s sponsor and Il-de is one of the founders of the idea. The captain of Andorra had spells in Greece with Ionikós FC, Italy playing for Calcio, Mexico with Pachuca, Spain with Español’s reserve team, Rayo Vallecano, Las Palmas and Sant Andreu. But spent most of his carrer with FC Andorra. H

33 Adrián Morales and Ilde Lima during the book presentation.

INTERESCALDES.COM

The Government published the grants to sports clubs and federa-tions in the BOPA. This year there are seven beneficiary federations and the ones that have received more money are the Andorran Cy-cling Federation, with 16,847.72 euros, and the Andorra Valls Chess Federation, with a sum of € 12,426.80. Also awarded are the An-dorran Judo Federation, with 5,000 euros; the Special Olympics Feder-ation, with €4,500 and the Andor-ran Table Tennis Federation, with €2,221.Finally, the Andorran Fed-eration of Adapted Sports received an amount of 1,430 euros and the Andorran Federation of Volley-ball, 1,500. The Secretary of State for Sports requested these scholar-ships and signed the agreement of the Government on December 19. The total amount is €43,925.52. It should be noted that the subsidies were a very debated subject during in the cabinet, with the opposition saying that they focused to much on the elite.H

Federations benefit from Government’s grants

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well enough. It seemed that the break did not end up as well as expected, with the director criticising his lack of motivation and underachieving in the court. However, the contract end-ed in a professional manner wishing him good luck in his next chapter of his sporting carreer.

MoraBanc need the win to break their losing streak and get over the hurdle of getting beaten by ‘smaller’ teams

er: Whittington. The American left a few days ago due to some misunder-standings with the club. The main reasons is that he did not have much playing time, he had a hard time to fit in especially after his injury in the start of the season and the team and staff thought he was not performing

NEXT OBJECTIVES/ Captain Oliver Stevic is focused on the upcoming challen-ges and the teams goals: «In difficult moments you can see how the team reacts and I hope we did it correctly. If we want to improve, we make a step forward». Regarding the squad, he ex-plained that «we are well, we work hard and train to improve. We know what we need to change, which are small details, but yet very important. We need a win tonight» he said. He al-so pointed out that «when you come from losing three matches in a row you are eager to win again, and more when you are at home».

In the start of 2019, MoraBanc will have a tough time in January they will compete a total of 10 matches betwe-en the liga Endesa and the Eurocup. Aixàs stated that they are very happy with their historical feat when they got the Top16 position , but now they have to prove their worth competing with top teams. UNICS Kazan (Russia), Cedevita Zabgreb (Croatia) amd Zenit St Petersburg are in the group with Andorra. The first game will be at Za-greb at 19:30h on the second of Janu-ary. Regarding the liga Endesa they will face Monbus Obradoiro who are 13th in the table (just behind Mora-Banc). Regarding the replacement of Whittington, they are waiting for the end of Jerome Jordan’s contract. H

FOOTBALL 3 BOOK PRESENTATION SCHOLARSHIPS

MoraBanc face Estudiantes with a familiar face: Shayne Whittington