Local residents and visitors spending time on Lloret Beach can now make use of a free-of-charge, public Wi-Fi service, launched by Lloret City Council last week. All users have to do in order to enjoy unlimited browsing with this service is search for @LloretdeMar in the list of available networks on their mobile devices. In total, 11 access points have been installed.
Albert Robert, Deputy Mayor of Lloret de Mar and Councillor for New Technologies explained that, thanks to this initiative, the destination is “providing a service that’s highly valued by local residents and visitors alike, making the most of new technologies as a promotional tool for Lloret de Mar and creating a direct channel for the communication of municipal information in real time”, adding that “In a single day we registered 23,000 mobile phones with Wi-Fi activated on the beach and 3,355 connections. This service will also facilitate the collection of other interesting user data, such as the length of time and the use made of connections.”
This Wi-Fi network, a public-private initiative, enables users to browse as they wish while also offering municipal information on what’s going on in the destination and on the state of the beach, not to mention information on shopping, eating out and leisure activities, offering geo-specific, segmented and contextualised advertising slots. Furthermore, the system provides information in the user’s language.
As Albert Robert explains, “This initiative represents another step towards turning Lloret into a Smart City, one of the priorities of the Tourism Operational Plan. The goal now is to extend the Wi-Fi zone to Fenals Beach and to the shopping district.”
Last year, the State Corporation for Innovation Management and Tourism Technologies (SEGITTUR) presented Lloret de Mar City Council with its diagnosis and action plan for turning the city into a Smart Tourist Destination. According to the Councillor for New Technologies, “In an increasingly technological environment it was vital to ensure the municipality had a good telecommunications infrastructure with a powerful and reliable fibre optic network, crucial for the roll-out of Wi-Fi zones. The installation of this fibre optic network is now also a reality.”
With 1,175,487 visitors and 5,411,591 overnight stays, Lloret de Mar remains one of the leading tourist destinations in Spain.
