The damage caused by the Nelson storm that swept along the Catalan coastline last Easter has been repaired in time for the summer season in Lloret de Mar to get underway with a certain degree of normality. The emblematic beach of Lloret has completed the refurbishment work over the last few days after an investment of 300,000 € (10% of which has been provided by the Provincial Coastal Service in Girona).
Lloret beach recovered after the storm.
Fenals beach, which also suffered serious damage to its promenade, will complete the repair work at the beginning of August, requiring an investment of 2 million euros from the Generalitat’s Department of Territory. This project will prevent further damage in future storms, as it has been protected with a breakwater wall. It has also involved the replacement of 250 linear metres of retaining wall to repair both the collapsed section of the promenade and the end up to Punta Garbí; the affected public services, such as sewerage, lighting and drinking water services, have also been replaced.
The return to normality of the beaches is complemented this season with important new features. The most notable is the ban on smoking on all beaches in the municipality, a measure that aims to improve the experience of bathers, both in terms of the inconvenience of smoke and the improvement of the quality and hygiene of the sand, contributing to the elimination in the Mediterranean of one of its major pollutants: Cigarette butts which, according to information published by the Aquae Foundation, have the potential to contaminate between 8 and 10 litres of seawater (or the marine organisms that ingest them) with harmful elements such as nicotine, arsenic or lead, in addition to the cellulose acetose from the cigarette itself. Teams of informers, beach guards and lifeguards will monitor that there are no breaches, which could be punished with fines of up to €750. This measure is the central focus of this year’s civic-mindedness campaign and coincides, like last year, with the municipality maintaining its five blue flags, making it one of the top destinations in Spain in terms of the number of certified beaches.
Banning smoking on all beaches and new lifeguard towers.
This year the beaches will also have a new boat for the maritime surveillance service, attached to Civil Protection, with a length of 7 metres and 2 outboard motors (with an investment of: 106,611.50 €), which is complemented by the lifeguard service which has a jet ski.
Another novelty is the installation of two new lifeguard towers to improve the working conditions of the lifeguards and the efficiency of the service. The number of lifeguards on duty in the coves at weekends in July and August has also been increased. These two interventions have involved an investment of €588,781.24. Lloret de Mar is one of the best prepared tourist destinations in terms of beach safety in Spain, as it has 6 beach guards, 3 Civil Protection officers and 1 Civil Protection chief, as well as 25 lifeguards who have been gradually joining the team since Easter and who provide the service until mid-October, making it the tourist destination that offers this service for the most months on the Costa Brava.
Cultural and leisure activities in nature
In the chapter on family activities, a commitment has also been made to transform leisure activities on the beach (the former mini-clubs) into workshops and activities of discovery and understanding of nature, in the line of sustainability promoted by the municipality as a new proposal to enhance the value of the environment and its enjoyment and knowledge.
Particularly noteworthy are the workshop for juniors “we work at sea” which combines laboratory and field work on the beaches; marine biology workshops for families; the marine ecosystems discovery workshop “who lives here?”; or guided snorkelling trips for families with children from 8 years old. It should be noted that all the workshops are given by marine biologists through the environmental association Xatrac de la Casa del Mar, an environmental interpretation centre certified by the FEE, which awards blue flags at European level as a Blue Centre.
The range of activities on offer for residents and visitors this summer includes more than 100 cultural and natural activities as part of the Lloret Outdoor Summer Festival (14 June-27 September). The festival, which has been held since 2016, this year features proposals such as the Clone Festival, the Roca d’en Maig music festival, which includes tribute concerts to the 1969 Woodstock Festival (20 July); Delinqüentes (10 August) and Bob Marley (31 August). The Figaflawas and the Tropikal Band will perform on 23rd July at the Santa Cristina town festival, and on 27th July, Lloret will host an electronic music concert at Sa Caleta. The Fenals de Música cycle and the sardana dances in Plaça de la Vila will also be back, among many other musical events. All the information on the festival is available at this link.
Coexistence between residents and visitors
Lloret de Mar was a pioneer in 2014 with the creation of an Ordinance on Civic Behaviour and Citizen Coexistence which, among other things, has already made possible the first collaboration agreement with the nightlife sector through which auxiliary staff have been hired to help detect and control uncivic behaviour, and who will be operational from 19 July to 31 August. The signing of this agreement between the City Council and some twenty nightlife establishments will help to control noise, street vending, the consumption of alcoholic beverages and other illegal services in the public thoroughfare. In total, the companies will assume €75,910 in extra costs for hiring between 10 and 11 nightlife service assistants, who will coordinate with the Local Police.
The civic ordinance that has been modified this year and approved by the plenary last April includes a special section to limit the nuisance caused by stag and hen parties, which will be controlled both in terms of noise and the nuisance they may cause on the public highway, as well as the use of costumes or elements that are an affront to good taste.
Seasonal forecasts and investments in the sector
Lloret de Mar will once again be one of the favourite destinations for international travellers arriving in Catalonia this summer. Flight bookings to Girona airport have risen significantly compared to the same period last year: 20% in August, 21% in September and 23% in October. The numbers of visitors landing in Barcelona are slightly lower, but also up on 2023: 9% in August, 12% in September and 8% in October. The figures follow the trend of Easter, which was very positive, despite the uncertainty of the drought.
In March there was a 27% increase in overnight stays, with 205,131 people visiting Lloret de Mar. By nationality, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and the United Kingdom were the countries with the highest number of visitors during this period.
Elizabeth Keegan, manager of Lloret Turisme, explains that “the airline scheduling data for Girona Costa Brava and Barcelona airports forecast a good summer season”. Good forecasts which, in the words of the Mayor of Lloret, Adrià Lamelas, “are reinforced by the consolidation of the repositioning of the destination, as we have observed in our tourism intelligence and big data platform from Mabrian Technologies with the improvement in prices and ratings of refurbished hotels”.
Another statistic that reveals visitors’ interest in Lloret de Mar is the increase in bookings at the campsites. In 2023, 260,440 people stayed overnight at the town’s campsites, an increase of 72% compared to the pre-pandemic figures. By country, the visitors who stay most often at campsites in Lloret are from France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
This year, the accommodation, restaurant and leisure sectors have invested more than 70 million euros in renovations and the opening of new establishments. The most outstanding project was that of the Melià group, which opened an exclusive 5* hotel in Lloret de Mar with 200 rooms. Likewise, Marsol Hotels has transformed the 95 flats of the Costa Encantada resort into suites, while the Frigola Group has completed the renovation of the 4* hotels Delamar and Gran Hotel Flamingo this year. The HTop Hotels group also stands out with the renovation of the HTop Amatista hotel, and the Law Holding leisure group for the modernisation of the Tropics and Moby’s nightclubs.
Lloret de Mar, an intelligent and sustainable destination
This year, the municipality has become a Smart Tourism Destination, thus joining the small group of destinations that lead excellence in terms of implementing the DTI management model, made up of Barcelona, Bilbao, Benidorm, Donostia-San Sebastián, Gijón-Xixón, Málaga, Tenerife Island and Santander. A DTI is a destination that excels in meeting more than 80% of the 96 requirements and 261 indicators that make up this methodology based on 5 strategic work axes: governance, innovation, technology, accessibility and sustainability.
Lloret de Mar has been part of the Smart Tourist Destination Network since 2 October 2019 and was a pilot municipality for the State’s smart destinations project in 2015, reflecting the destination’s commitment to its transformation and modernisation as a tourist destination.
Sustainability is one of Lloret de Mar’s strong points in this certification, where it has achieved 100% compliance with most of the requirements, especially in the management of seasonality, legislation for natural and cultural heritage, marketing for a sustainable destination, and protection of the local natural environment and its biodiversity, among others.
This year, Lloret de Mar has also become the first tourist destination in the world to obtain the Bioscore Sustainability Management System in Destinations certification, a national and international benchmark in sustainability that will enable it to have a comprehensive management system that includes both public facilities and private establishments.
The certification includes the categories of catering, transport, culture (museums, theatre, Santa Clotilde Gardens), complementary activities and public facilities such as the municipal swimming pool or the Tourist Offices, which will be audited and where the carbon footprint, water footprint, waste segregation and supply contracts will be monitored to improve their efficiency, among others.
In terms of accommodation, Lloret Turisme has already collaborated with the Lloret de Mar Hotel and Catering Guild to promote Bioscore sustainability certification in 2022, and there are currently 27 establishments with more than 15,000 hotel beds that are accredited, which represents more than 50% of the total in the destination.
Bioscore certifications are also highly valued by the different distribution channels such as Booking, Destinia, OntheBeach, Ecohotels.com, Greenline Hotels or Bidroom, which contributes significantly to the commercial positioning in the field of sustainability.
