The plan’s most important actions for the near future include a meeting of experts to define the urban and tourism restructuring of the town; the comprehensive renovation of its main thoroughfares and tourist areas; the completion of the coastal footpath; the drawing up of a Plan for commercial uses; and the implementation of actions related to energy efficiency and the use of renewable energies as part of a smart destination strategy.
Pere Torres, Business and Competition Secretary of the Government of Catalonia, Romà Codina, Mayor of Lloret de Mar, and Josep Maria Molist, President of the Tourism Business Round Table of Lloret de Mar, have presented today the Operational Plan for the Restructuring of Lloret de Mar. The presentation was also attended by Marian Muro, Director General for Tourism of the Government of Catalonia.
This plan concludes the second phase of the agreement signed on 31 March aimed at working together towards the renovation and improvement of this tourist destination, in accordance with the guidelines set forth in the “Development of destinations” programme of the Strategic Tourism Plan of Catalonia 2013-2016, and in the Strategic Tourism Plan of Lloret de Mar 2010-2014.
Pere Torres stated, “This important presentation is the result of the hard work, consensus and agreement reached between the parties involved –public authorities and business sector– in order to define, decide and specify the actions that will bring about the comprehensive restructuring of Lloret de Mar as a tourist destination.”
The Business and Competition Secretary further added, “Lloret de Mar is working hard to renovate its image and to transform and establish itself as a high quality tourist destination with the capacity to attract a broad visitor base with a wide variety of interests. And this can only be achieved on the basis of profound reflection, joint action and the collaboration of the different actors involved.”
Torres continued, “This operational plan forms part of the first pilot project for the restructuring of mature tourist destinations to be implemented in Catalonia. This comprehensive and pioneering initiative will be proposed by the Catalan Ministry for Business and Competition as a Government Agreement in order for all the ministries of the Government of Catalonia to pledge their commitment to the renovation process of Lloret de Mar.”
Romà Codina, Mayor of Lloret de Mar, declared, “Today is a historic day in the tourism restructuring process of Lloret de Mar.” Meanwhile, Josep Maria Molist, President of the Tourism Business Round Table of Lloret de Mar, representing the private sector, explained, “This marks a new departure for the business community because it has managed to sit down with all the parties involved and pledge its commitment to implementing specific actions.” Molist highlighted the example of the Lloret City of Light project, which in his opinion will set Lloret apart from the other towns in the area.
In order to implement this agreement, the “Lloret de Mar, renovation of destinations” working group has been set up, made up of representatives of the parties involved in the project. What has been presented today is the result of the work of this team, which has defined, scheduled and prioritised specific actions, estimating the necessary investment and identifying the possible channels of funding.
The Operational Plan 2014-2020 groups the actions together in the following categories: connectivity and mobility of the town; urban regeneration; modernisation, renovation and new investments in the accommodation sector and in the overall tourism offering; energy efficiency and telecommunications; and creation and consolidation of strategic products, events and high-value segments.
The document lists 29 action proposals. Of these, some of the most imminent are listed below:
A meeting of world-renowned experts to define the urban and tourism restructuring of Lloret de Mar; the remodelling and comprehensive renovation of the main thoroughfares and tourist areas of Lloret de Mar; the improvement and completion of Lloret de Mar’s coastal footpath; the implementation of a series of actions related to energy efficiency and the use of renewable energies as part of a smart destination strategy; the drawing up of a Plan for commercial uses in order to encourage the implementation of new specialised and high-added-value activities; the renovation and improvement of existing activities; actions to combat the exodus of residents from certain areas of the town, focusing in particular on the old quarter.
In addition to these short-term measures, the plan includes projects for the longer term such as the creation of the new Tourism and Leisure City; Lloret Sports City; and the revitalisation of beaches through the provision of new leisure, culture, sports and entertainment activities and options.
The objectives behind the measures of the Operational Plan are as follows:
- The analysis of the suitability of existing tourism activities. A detailed analysis of the current situation of tourism activities was considered crucial for the renovation of the holiday destination, focusing in particular on the accommodation offering.
- The definition of specific operations to achieve the goals of the strategic plan. Work has been done to draw up specific action proposals and to prioritise them in terms of their time frame and material requirements, adopting a realistic approach to the execution of the proposals put forward by the working group and each its members.
- Improvement of tourism quality. Priority has been given to actions aimed at attracting off-season demand and at increasing quantitatively and qualitatively the seasonal demand currently concentrated between June and September, as well as increasing the profitability of the business activities related to the sector.
- Analysis of the suitability of existing leisure activities. Likewise, to achieve the objective of renovating the tourist destination, it was considered crucial to carry out a detailed study of the pre-existing leisure activities in order to determine their compatibility with a remodelling of the town centre and its streets aimed at improving the coexistence of citizens.
- Identification of potential new projects for the development of Lloret de Mar as a high quality and distinctive tourist destination, both from the perspective of public measures related to the accessibility and urban improvement of the municipality, and from the point of view of private enterprise, with the goal of creating new areas for development and high-added-value projects that improve Lloret de Mar’s economic outlook as a tourist destination in the long term.
The third phase of the project will now get under way with the application of this Operational Plan. The Working Group will oversee the fulfilment of the objectives and the implementation of the plan; it has been entrusted with monitoring, evaluating and driving forward the execution of the proposals for action agreed and set forth in this Plan.
The Government of Catalonia is implementing its pilot plan for tourist destinations through this project in Lloret de Mar. The initiative, the first of its kind in Catalonia, has been developed in response to the guidelines concerning the comprehensive restructuring of mature destinations, set forth in the Strategic Tourism Plan of Catalonia.
