More than sixty professionals from the tourism sector in Lloret de Mar took part in the session organised by Lloret Turisme together with Mabrian Technologies to present the tourism analysis data for the year 2023, extracted from the destination’s tourism intelligence and big data platform, as well as to present the 2023 report and the new tourism developments for 2024 for Lloret Turisme.
In addition, part of this session was devoted to presenting the demand profile studies of 5 of the most important markets in the destination, prepared with the aim of providing greater knowledge of each of them in order to establish a more coherent marketing and communication strategy, in relation to the messages to be communicated to each market according to their preferences, to which profiles and at what time of the year. The reports relate to the following markets: Spain, France, Belgium, United Kingdom and Germany.
This platform, whose data in 2023 has been financed through Red.es, is fed by different sources such as: air capacity (Cirium), presence detected through mobile antennas (Orange and Nommon), card spending at destination (Geoblink and Mastercard), opinions and prices on OTAs (Tripadvisor, Expedia, Booking and Airbnb), tourist comments on social networks (Twitter and Instagram), hotel bookings (Hitt) and searches on Google metasearch. Data on tourists and overnight stays provided monthly by the National Statistics Institute (INE) were also used as a source.
The event was welcomed by the Mayor of Lloret, Adrià Lamelas, who stressed that “this information is key to planning the tourism strategy of the destination and its establishments in the short, medium and long term, and to establishing synergies between the public and private sectors on the challenges and opportunities facing our town”.
Lloret de Mar closed 2023 with a total of 1,266,712 travellers, of which 865,335 were international and 401,377 domestic, and 5,339,422 overnight stays, of which 4,184,095 were international and 1,155,327 domestic. Elizabeth Keegan, manager of Lloret Turisme, stressed that “in 2023 the tourism figures for 2022 were surpassed, reaching figures close to those of 2019 and with good pre- and post-season data that show that the strategy of specialising in tourism products that complement the sun and beach is consolidating and positioning the destination in segments such as couples or families with a value proposition for audiences outside the summer season”.
10 MAIN CONCLUSIONS ON THE TOURISM YEAR 2023
- The tourism indicators of figures indicate a good 2023 for the tourism sector, better than 2022 and close to 2019.
- The domestic market remains loyal to Lloret de Mar after the pandemic, with a 20% increase in domestic travellers compared to 2019 (407,921 travellers in 2023 compared to 338,168 in 2019), which translates into a 10% increase in domestic overnight stays compared to 2019 (1,165,618 in 2023 compared to 1,049,635 in 2019).
- Among the national public, the Catalan public clearly stands out, accounting for 80% of travellers and 70% of total overnight stays in the Spanish market, and also improving on its figures for 2022.
- In terms of international markets, Lloret de Mar maintained its average length of stay, although it did not reach the figures for 2019 (12% fewer overnight stays). However, compared to 2022, the growth is 21%.
- Lloret de Mar is, after Benidorm, the destination with the best occupancy rates in the different seasons (pre-season 52%, season 72% and post-season 62%).
- The interest of strategic markets in Lloret is maintained and others that had been held back by the restrictions of the pandemic are growing, compensating for the loss of tourists from eastern countries.
- The domestic market is growing in interest in the pre- and post-season months, with levels increasing year on year.
- In the case of Germany, the search intensity has increased compared to 2019.
- UK traveller interest has grown in 2023, even surpassing 2019 rates in some months.
- In France, the months of April and May are growing in interest, with similar figures to 2022. French searches come mainly from Languedoc-Roussillon.
- The deseasonalisation strategy is bearing fruit, with the pre- and post-season becoming increasingly important in the tourist year.
- In 2019 the weight of total visitors was 21% in pre-season, 56% in season and 23% in post-season, whereas in 2023 it was 25% in pre-season, 47% in season and 29% in post-season.
- Nature activities, sport and culture are consolidated in Lloret de Mar’s value proposition.
- Increase in mentions referring to beaches with an increase in markets such as Germany and the UK.
- The combination Nature-Activity and Sport is the third most mentioned.
- In the top 5 tourist attractions are the coastal paths, followed by the Santa Clotilde Gardens, Fenals beach, the Tropics discotheque and Lloret beach.
- The destination is making positive progress in satisfaction and perception indicators with the renovation of the hotel plant.
- The level of satisfaction of the refurbished hotel plant stands at 77 points and maintains an upward trend over the years.
- The price level, especially in the 4-star category, is increased by 10%, an even higher % in the case of renovated hotels.
- The average length of stay is maintained.
- Germany with an average stay of 5.8 days, Belgium with an average stay of 5.7 days, the Netherlands with 5.6 days and the United Kingdom with 5.5 days are the most interesting markets in this area.
- Air capacity was a constraint for 2023, 2024 forecasts are more favourable.
- Overall air capacity at Girona-Costa Brava airport was 19% lower than in 2019.
- Forecasts for 2024 are optimistic with air schedules 45% higher than in 2019 for all months.
- Average card spending indicators show a downward trend.
- Markets such as Germany and the UK, which are more susceptible to tour-operations, show slight decreases in this indicator.
- In some markets, it is possible to sense an increase in visits from segments of the public that are less interesting for the destination.
- It is recommended to focus efforts on markets that bring greater value to the destination.
- Based on 12 variables relating to profile, expenditure, seasonality, accommodation, interests, weight and segment, the most potentially interesting markets for the destination are identified, such as Ireland, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Spain and France.
