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Lloret de Mar consolidates its position as the capital of hobby events with the Radikal Darts International Championship and the Catalan Chess Championship

These days Lloret de Mar combines a large number of tournaments, competitions and sports tourism stays with events linked to the world of hobbies; this is the programme that the Lloret Convention Bureau is working on as “Lloret Hobbies” and which aims to position Lloret de Mar as a benchmark destination for the organisation of events in the field of active and competitive leisure. The two most important events are the Radikal Darts International Championship and the Catalan Chess Championship, both of which have also been held in Lloret de Mar in previous editions.

International Radikal Darts Championship

From 3 to 6 April, the Olympic Conference Centre hosted the international edition of the Radikal Darts Championship, one of the most important events in the world of electronic darts. With more than 3,500 attendees, including players and accompanying persons, and 120 active dartboards, the tournament was attended by representatives of 10 nationalities (Spain, Belgium, Germany, USA, Austria, Switzerland, Portugal and Holland, among others).

With more than 30 years of history, and being held for the fourth time in Lloret, Radikal Darts has established itself as an essential event for lovers of this sport and as a loyal customer of our destination.

Catalan Chess Championship

Since last Saturday 12th and until Thursday 17th April, the Guitart Central Park Aqua Resort has been transformed into the biggest chess board in Catalonia with the celebration of the Catalan Chess Championship by Ages. The event, organised by the Catalan Chess Federation, brings together more than 1,000 people between participants and families.

This federated championship, which is open to players from U8 to U20, is a qualifier for the Spanish Championship. For six days, Lloret de Mar hosts the future promises of chess in an atmosphere of concentration, strategy and sportsmanship.

In the words of the Director of the Lloret Convention Bureau, “Lloret Hobbies fuses sport, leisure and events around a hobby and becomes a product that attracts more and more meetings with more and more participants, following the trend of shared leisure. This April, these events have brought together more than 4,500 participants and accompanying persons, reinforcing our leadership as a venue for large-scale events, thanks to our specialised offer in meeting tourism”.

More than 15,000 people linked to sports tourism will visit Lloret de Mar over the Easter period

Lloret de Mar is approaching Easter and, with it, one of the busiest times of the year for sport and tourism. Over the course of these days, more than 15,000 people linked to sports tourism will visit the destination, with the various tournaments being held in the town, leaving 12,000 people staying in Lloret: 9,620 of them sportspeople, while 2,380 are accompanying guests.

The activity began last week with the Vila de Lloret international pétanque tournament, which brought together 400 athletes from France, Belgium and Switzerland. This week, it will be the turn of various tournaments that are now a regular feature of the destination at Easter. One of the first to start was the Globasket, with almost 2,500 people, including athletes and accompanying persons, from 27 European nationalities, as well as Puerto Rico and Mexico. The Lloret Cup handball tournament also got underway, with 3,300 people, including athletes and accompanying persons. Once again, the competition will be attended by a wide range of nationalities, including France, Germany, Lithuania and Georgia, among others.

Football will once again be one of the most popular sports in Lloret de Mar with two large-scale tournaments. One of these is the MIC, which is of great international prestige, with participants from around forty different nationalities. It will be held from 16th to 19th April all along the Costa Brava, with Lloret as one of the main venues, with 2,000 participants staying in hotels in the destination. In addition, from 18 to 20 April, the 45th edition of the San Jaime football tournament will be held, with almost 1,500 participants from France, Italy, Malta, Israel and various parts of Spain.

The Councillor for Sports, Frederic Guich, pointed out that “the sports facilities will be at full capacity these days, a fact that shows the quality of what is on offer in Lloret de Mar and the high level of satisfaction among organisers and participants”. He also emphasised that “the destination is once again hosting highly prestigious events with a strong international presence”.

In terms of sports stays, between February, March and April, the figure is 245, with 7,350 people staying in establishments in the town and of very different nationalities. The sporting activities were football, basketball, swimming, athletics, triathlon and cycling.

Lloret de Mar has been certified as a Sports Tourism Destination by the Catalan Tourism Agency since 2006. It is certified in six sports: football, athletics, team sports, cycling, swimming and triathlon. It should also be noted that, over the course of 2024, Lloret surpassed the figure of 100,000 visitors linked to sports tourism, which represented an increase of 25.7% compared to 2023, which closed with 82,975 visitors.

Lloret Turisme incorporates artificial intelligence to optimise its processes and improve communication with visitors

Lloret Turisme takes a step forward in its commitment to innovation by incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) into its internal and external work processes. This initiative will enable more efficient execution of the destination’s management and marketing, as well as regular online reputation analysis. Elizabeth Keegan, manager of Lloret Turisme, explains that “This transformation involves a profound change in methodology, with the creation of an ecosystem that centralises all of Lloret Turisme’s information and tools from a single AI-based digital environment”. Through this workspace, Lloret Turisme can better define the tone and style of its messages, respond to queries quickly, personalise the user experience and incorporate more creativity into its content.

The first phase of the project focuses on defining the strategy and action plan, identifying the specific opportunities for Lloret de Mar in the different AI tools, defining the priority points of attack and designing a collaborative workspace. The second phase involves creating a training space to provide AI with accurate information and establish processes to ensure the smooth running of the projects created.

The creation of this new centralised environment incorporates, under the umbrella of an AI platform, several of the tools currently used by Lloret Turisme on a daily and individual basis, such as a platform for drawing up tourism reports and statistics, an app for communicating with visitors, a tool for creating presentations and content, another platform for translations, another for contact management (CRM), and another for storing information. This environment makes it possible to integrate all these supports under the same shared workspace, as well as incorporating new procedures for more efficient and valuable communication with both tourists and potential visitors.

Rafael de Jorge, from Growtur, the company advising Lloret Turisme on this project, explains that “one of the key aspects of this evolution is cybersecurity and connectivity, guaranteeing a secure and stable environment for working and communicating. In addition, the entire system is geared towards ensuring consistency between channels, as it is fed by a single centralised ecosystem”.

Lloret Turisme reaffirms its positioning in the Polish market with two strategic promotional actions

Lloret Turisme has consolidated its presence in the Polish market with its prominent participation in two key promotional activities that have taken place in the first half of the year: the “Polonia Meet Hiszpania” roadshow, held from 17 to 20 March, and the “Spanish Event 2025”, also held in various Polish cities this week.

At the Polonia Meet Hiszpania roadshow, the Lloret Turisme team visited the cities of Warsaw, Lublin, Rzeszów, Katowice and Krakow. The main objective of the event was to consolidate awareness of Lloret de Mar as a benchmark tourist destination, highlighting its urban sun and beach products with interesting attractions such as culture, gastronomy and nature, and also focusing on strategic segments such as MICE and sports tourism.

In Warsaw and Krakow, two cities where Lloret de Mar already has a consolidated presence, the main new features of the destination were presented: the renovation of the hotel plant through different Adults Only hotels or those specialising in family tourism, highlighting the new aquatic areas of its facilities; the expansion of the Waterworld water park with new attractions on the occasion of its 40th anniversary, as well as public and private sector initiatives in sustainability, such as the Lloret Sustainable by Bioscore certification.

One of the most noteworthy actions took place in Katowice, where more than 70 travel agents from the Silesian region took part in the “All In Too” networking event. In the words of Elizabeth Keegan, manager of Lloret Turisme, “This region, with a strong industrial fabric, is showing a growing interest in the incentive product, for which Lloret de Mar has a specialised and accessible offer thanks to the year-round air connections between Girona and Krakow”. In this regard, the new incentives website for companies was presented: https://experiences.lloretcb.org/en/incentives-for-companies-in-lloret-de-mar/

In Lublin, the promotional event focused on the joint presentation with the Girona Costa Brava Tourist Board of the new Girona-Lublin air link.

The last stop of the first roadshow was Rzeszów, where travel agents from Ukraine also participated. Keegan explains that “Despite the current context, as we have already experienced last summer, some segments of the Ukrainian population maintain the ability to travel and show interest in the high-end hotel offer, such as the recent reopening of the Sant Pere del Bosc hotel“.

At the same time, this week Lloret de Mar is taking part in the “Spanish Event 2025” organised by the tour operator Nekera with the support of Turespaña in the cities of Katowice, Poznań and Warsaw. In the city of Warsaw, both the Prime Minister of Tourism and Sport of Poland and the Spanish Ambassador to the country expressed the good economic trend and the high travel capacity of the market, as well as the growing interest of Poles to spend their holidays in Spain. Currently 18% of Poles visiting Spain choose Catalonia.

This event, attended by more than 300 Polish travel agents, aims to promote Spanish destinations and hotels, favouring direct contact with the main players in the Polish tourism sector.

The Polish market, strategic for Lloret

Poland is currently the fifth largest market for Lloret de Mar, with 6.30% of total overnight stays. It is followed by the Spanish market (18.74%), the French market (18.38%), the English market (10.99%) and the German market (10.68%).

In 2024, the destination received 56,531 travellers from Poland, who generated a total of 340,555 overnight stays. And the evolution statistics show a full recovery of this market since before the pandemic, even growing by more than 18% compared to 2019 in number of overnight stays.

Polish tourism market figures

Lloret de Mar presents Pride Costa Brava with Ladilla Rusa as headliner

The Mayor of Lloret, Adrià Lamelas, and Ivan Soriano, President of PLURALS, the Lloret LGTBIQ+ Association, accompanied by the Councillor for Equality, Míriam Rodríguez, have officially presented the line-up of artists for the 5th edition of Pride Costa Brava. In the words of the Mayor of Lloret, Adrià Lamelas: “Lloret Town Council and the organisers of Pride Costa Brava invite all citizens and visitors to take part in this celebration and once again show the open and inclusive spirit of our town”.

Pride Costa Brava claims, in a festive way, the rights of the LGTBIQ+ collective, in the words of the President of PLURALS, Ivan Soriano: “Pride Costa Brava is becoming a point of reference locally, but also in the rest of Spain, and we will continue working to undo the discourse that seeks to delegitimise the rights achieved, and yet to be achieved, for LGTBIQ+ people”.

Friday 27 June: Kick-off with PrePride

The party kicks off on Friday 27 June with PrePride, a vibrant night that will feature a keynote speech by Lloret-based drag artist and activist Joanne, who will be the host. The evening will include performances by prominent names such as drag performer Chloe Vittu and the Patatas Bravas DJs, and will continue with a special session from 00:30 at the Gotham club.

Friday 4 July: Pride and Diversity with Abanico’s Weekend

On Friday 4th July, the small stage, located in the Fermi Reixach area of the Lloret Theatre, will host a day designed for all ages, with the Family Diversity Festival, organised by the Department of Equality. In the evening, one of the most eagerly awaited events will take place: the second edition of the Miss Travesti Costa Brava 2025 Gala, presented by La Infanta Gitana, with a performance by Vidha Queen, winner of the 2024 edition, and a top-class jury made up of Choriza May, Malbert and Chloe Vittu. The event will end with a session by DJ Tarada, from Girona.

Saturday 5 July: The highlight of Abanico’s Weekend

The high point of Pride will come on Saturday 5 July on the big stage, Germinal Ros Square at the Lloret Theatre, with a night of concerts that will run from 9.30 pm to 3 am. The headliner will be the popular duo Ladilla Rusa, who will thrill the audience with their hits. The programme also includes performances by Choriza May, Imperio Reina, Joanne, La Perra y el Cari, and DJs Izmmu and Malbert, who will close the night with an explosive session.

All activities are free and open access.

Balance of Pride Costa Brava 2024

The 2024 edition of Pride Costa Brava was a resounding success, with an attendance of over 7,000 people. The artistic line-up included prominent names such as Ptazeta, Fórmula Abierta, Juacko, Choriza Mayo, Alex Guirado, Azucarillo Kings, Los Atrapasueños, Malbert, and DJ Tarada.

The programme featured a total of fourteen parallel cultural activities and the participation of prominent influencers such as Miguel Lorenzo, Familia Rodríguez Moreno and Dama de Ruiz, and consolidated the event as one of the most important events on the LGTBIQ+ calendar on the Costa Brava.