Six Italian journalists visited last November the prestigious winery and hotel Marqués de Riscal in Elciego, in Rioja Alavesa. The government paid them the spa and had a treatment session. It was a luxury spa session, as they explain on their web, impregnated in wine.

As detailed in the bill below, five people took the spa session for 61.98 euros each, the last of the list is double, with a treatment of 198 euros each and later dinner. Invoice issued by the Basque Government for EUR 2,000.

Luxury weekend €10,000

Over a weekend, the Basque Government paid over EUR 10,000 to six Italian journalists from 4 to 7 November. Last year he organised 26 similar group trips, totalling EUR 145,000. In 2023 the government will continue to do so within the Basquetour Euskadi Confidential Premium programme.

According to the Councilor of Tourism of the Basque Government, Javier Hurtado, "the media are invited, because of their profile, cast or entry into an interesting market, they can suppose an attractive return for the promotion of the Basque Country".

The day before they were in Gipuzkoa. They visited the Balenciaga Museum in Getaria, met Zarautz and brought them to eat at the Michelin star Kokotxa restaurant in Donostia. They hired a luxury taxi service to carry out all the trips to their service, for a total amount of almost two thousand euros from the government.

They arrived in Bilbao on November 4, Friday. In the Crusoe Treasure submarine winery, wine tastings and pintxos were first performed for a total of 400 euros, the Guggenheim museum was visited and then dinner at the luxurious Michelin star Atelier Etxanobe restaurant for a total amount of 930 euros. They spent the night at the five-star Grand Hotel Medem in central Bilbao for 900 euros more.

The six journalists came from the Italian media specialized in tourism journalism: Itinerari e Luoghi, Bell’Europa magazine and its editorial Cairo Editore, Radio Popolare and Dove magazine from the prestigious media Corriere della Sera.

Just a month after returning from the weekend’s trip, Radio Popolar dedicated a session of approximately an hour to tourism in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, explaining as “exotic” “the indigenous minority language,” the Basque language. The magazine Dove, on the other hand, at the end of the trip, presented a small list of “cities to visit” in the Spanish state, including both San Sebastian and Bilbao and La Rioja, referring to Álava.