The Lloret Convention Bureau, the division that promotes meetings and events tourism in Lloret de Mar, travelled to Dublin on Tuesday to take part in a promotional event to publicise the destination’s specialised offer in the meetings tourism segment. The Lloret Convention Bureau met with around thirty event organising agencies from all over Ireland. Montse Belisario, Director of the Lloret Convention Bureau, said, “this is the first time we have presented our value proposition in Ireland and we have attracted a lot of interest in the destination at MICE level, especially in terms of improved connectivity with Barcelona and Costa Brava Girona airports and the 4 main Irish airports”. The Catalonia Convention Bureau and the Barcelona Convention Bureau also took part in the workshop, which ended with a networking dinner.
Yesterday, 13 April, Lloret Turisme took part in the promotional event organised by the Costa Brava Tourist Board of Girona Provincial Council in Dublin. A total of thirty travel agents and around fifteen Irish journalists and content creators took part and were able to find out about the new features of the destination for the 2023 season: Lloret Castle, the Catalan Capital of Culture, new investments in accommodation and catering, etc.
This promotional event included a networking session with local companies, a dynamic activity and ended with a gastronomic meal prepared by establishments belonging to the Cuina del Empordanet collective. The Irish attendees included travel agencies such as Sunway, Cassidy Travel, Oscar Travel, ClubTravel, Trailfinders, Platinumtravel and Intele Travel, as well as media outlets such as Irelands Travel News, Sunday World, Mirror and Travelbiz, among others.
With these two promotional actions, Lloret Turisme is making progress in its action plan in Ireland, a market to which it has opened up this year and to which it offers a value proposition based on proximity (2 hours’ flight time), good connectivity and the attractions of Lloret’s tourist attractions for this family clientele that values sun and beach, with the components of gastronomy, nature and culture. The improved connectivity from Barcelona and Girona this season (with flights from Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Shannon and Knock) will help to increase the number of Irish arrivals to Girona destinations, especially from June onwards. Elizabeth Keegan, manager of Lloret Turisme, explains that “the action plan has focused on professional activities with tour operators, the media and opinion leaders in Ireland, enabling us to position and publicise our destination and its attractions”.
Last January Lloret Turisme took part in the Holiday World Show in Dublin, and in February in the Meet the Media event, also in Dublin, with Ireland’s leading media journalists and influencers.
According to the study on Tourists at Girona Costa Brava Airport, summer 2022, carried out by the Economics, Industry and Services Research Group of the University of Girona, Irish tourists travel mainly with their families, choose coastal destinations for an average stay of more than 8 nights -mostly in hotels- and spend 142 euros per person per day (one of the highest among foreign tourists). The study reveals that Irish visitors rate their stay in the destination as satisfactory, with 4.38 points out of 5.
