“Within fatality, we are fine,” they explain from the Casa Palacio de Montanejos hotel. It is one of the towns in the Valencian Community affected by the virulent fire that broke out in Villanueva de Viver on March 23 and which they are still trying to extinguish. There were 4,723.18 hectares affected, in a provisional measurement, of which more than 59% was wooded area.
And although the flames were considered controlled days ago, even this weekend two units of forest firefighters with two fire engines were working in the area as well as a coordinating foreman of the Castellón Provincial Firefighters Consortium. In fact, the prevention and extinction device has been activated throughout the Valencian Community, made up of more than 600 people who have been working since Thursday and will do so until next Monday, April 17, on the occasion of the Holy Week and Easter holidays.
In Montanejos, in the interior of the more touristy Castellón, although the impact of the fire is not visible from the town, it has left its mark on some hiking trails such as the Ruta de los Estrechos, which is half affected.
There are groups of volunteers who collaborate to clean these trails, and from the Tourist Office they recommend tourists to avoid them in the meantime because it smells of smoke and the view has changed, but they insist that there are other alternatives, they explain, just as interesting, such as the popular Fuente de los Baños, which “is intact” despite having been one of the “sensitive” areas in the fire.
Despite the bad omens when the fire broke out, tourists are arriving these days, albeit dropper. They say from the Casa Palacio establishment that the week of the fire there were many cancellations, “when we called the clients, many had already looked for another option.” But yesterday, Saturday, this three-star establishment with 70 beds spread over six apartments was at 80% full.
“Many are arriving with reservations from today to today, and in bars and restaurants it has been less noticeable because many people are coming to spend the day, to see what has happened. It is true that at first glance you do not appreciate the fire and that helps us â€, they say from this hotel company.
They confirm the tourist reactivation from the Xauen hotel, with three stars and 78 rooms. “It has been reactivated after all the cancellations that occurred at the beginning,” they detail. They assure that among their visitors, many who did not know the area and others who repeat. “In general we are satisfied, it could have been worse, although it is true that we are not one hundred percent complete,” they clarify.
Also from one of the rural hostels in the town, El Dharma, with 48 beds, they have the same feeling, that “very curious” is coming interested in browsing. They believe that the establishment is not full these days because “people do not have real information about how the area is” and they regret that they have not had time to work more on this to attract more tourism this festive week.
For this reason, from the hotel association of the Valencian Community, Hosbec, they want to send a positive message, focusing on the fact that this tourist center has recovered tourist activity “in record time” after the fire.
Even so, hotel reservations that were close to 100% occupancy a few weeks ago have been affected by the fire and cancellations have been registered, mainly due to the uncertainty of the past few days. They affirm that businessmen in the area are “very hopeful” of a quick recovery after this unfortunate incident, but they will not gauge the effects of the flames until next week.
