The seventh edition of the Business Tourism Market (BTM), organised by the Climent Guitart Foundation and the EFE Agency, took place yesterday at the Guitart Central Park, an event that has become a benchmark for the tourism industry. The opening ceremony was attended by the Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, together with the President of the Climent Guitart Foundation, Cristina Cabañas; the Catalan Minister for Social Rights and Inclusion, Mònica Martínez Bravo, and the Mayor of Lloret, Adrià Lamelas.
Towards a universal tourism, for everyone and everyone, was the title of the BTM of this year 2024, which featured presentations and round tables with leading experts from the sector. The BTM debated the extent to which the tourism industry is accessible, diverse and inclusive; the great challenges of global tourism to respond to people; and how to distinguish oneself through accessible tourism. Success stories of accessible tourism destinations and innovative solutions developed by start-ups were also presented.
Inclusive tourism is a challenge for the present and the future, but also an opportunity, concluded all the agents participating in the BTM forum.
Catalonia is the reference point
The director of the Catalan Tourism Agency (ACT), Arantxa Calvera, announced in her speech that the challenge is to make Catalonia a benchmark in the field of inclusivity. Calvera explained that the ACT’s current accessibility programme will make the leap to a network that brings together the public and private sectors and organisations and associations.
The local vision was provided by the Mayor of Lloret de Mar, Adrià Lamelas, who stressed that tourism, described as an industry of happiness, should be “for everyone”.
From the organisation of the BTM, the president of the Climent Guitart Foundation, Cristina Cabañas, pointed out that the tourism sector must respond to the group of travellers with special needs, and the Information Director of the EFE news agency, Leandro Lamor, pointed out that “accessibility is not only a question of physical barriers, but also of communication”.
An opportunity for inclusive tourism
One of the most eagerly awaited witnesses at the BTM was the Andorran sportsman Albert Llovera, the first rally driver with functional diversity.
Llovera, who suffered a skiing accident in the European Cup when he was eighteen and suffered a spinal cord injury, took to the stage to recount feats such as his nine participations in the Dakar.
From his experience of some two hundred days a year away from home with stays in some sixty accommodations, he has shown that the tourism sector still has “a long way to go” in terms of inclusivity. He acknowledged progress, but was explicit in stating that, “although the legislation to make ramps is fine”, what we need to achieve is for people like him to be “just another person”.
The same has happened to his career as a driver, where he has reached the World Rally Championship in the general category with who he has described with smiles as “normal” participants, because he did not want a specific category. In addition to Llovera, the BTM has had different witnesses from experts in the field of accessibility, who have agreed on this message of the business opportunity that inclusive tourism represents.
The forum has also served as a loudspeaker for the Eurofirms Foundation‘s Accessibility League, a project that develops an accessibility map of public infrastructure and shops in cities.
Startup competition
A start-up competition has chosen Showee Shower, which has created a smart shower that improves the experience of an often stressful activity for people with reduced mobility or cognitive dysfunction, as the winner.
The event was brought to a close by the President of Girona Provincial Council and of the Costa Brava Girona Tourist Board, Miquel Noguer, who pointed to the joint work of the public and private sectors as the key to success.
Previous editions, also focused on the future, were entitled It’s Time to Change (2018), From Change to Transformation (2019), From Ground Zero to the New Era (2020), New Challenges for a New World (2021), The Levers of the Future (2022) and, last year, Towards a Competitive and Socially Committed Tourism.
The BTM is supported by Girona Provincial Council, the Costa Brava Girona Tourist Board, Lloret Turisme and Lloret de Mar Town Council.
