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This January, the Lloret Convention Bureau is taking part in various promotional activities to promote MICE events in 2025.

This January, the Lloret Convention Bureau kicked off the development of its action plan with participation in two professional workshops aimed at strategic markets for the destination, one in Oslo and the other in Barcelona.

As part of the FITUR 2025 trade fair currently being held in Madrid, the Mayor of Lloret and the Councillor for Tourism met with the organisers of the Global MICE Forum, a national workshop with the participation of 50 event organising agencies from Spain that Lloret de Mar will be hosting in October.

Last week the Lloret Convention Bureau, accompanied by Evenia Hotels, took part for the second time in the Travelmatch event in Oslo, focusing on the Norwegian market, where it held 15 meetings with the city’s event organising agencies. The main objective of this action was to present the destination’s MICE innovations to agencies in the Nordic countries, clients who were very interested in the connectivity with Barcelona, the specialised hotel and services on offer and the wide range of experiences for companies in the natural environment, cultural heritage and gastronomy that Lloret de Mar has to offer.

The trip to Oslo also served to make a presentation to the event organising agency ZEvent, one of the leading agencies in the MICE sector in Norway. The Director of the Convention Bureau, Montse Belisario, explained that “once again we were able to see that Scandinavian countries value very highly our value proposition specialising in hosting all kinds of meeting events, and new requests for incentives in Lloret in 2025 have arisen from this action”.

The Lloret Convention Bureau also took part in the first edition of the Reed & Mackay Atelier in Barcelona, an international event that brought together the company’s agents from different parts of the world (Spain, USA, UK, Portugal, France, etc.). Lloret de Mar was the only destination participating in the meeting, and it did so with the L’Azure hotel. Seventeen meetings were held and, in the words of the Director of the Lloret Convention Bureau, “we were able to formalise three requests for events in our city”. The Lloret Convention Bureau also received an award from the Reed & Mackay agency during the event in recognition of its ongoing work to position the destination as a MICE destination.

On 5 and 6 February, the Lloret Convention Bureau will be taking part for the first time in AMW Pamplona, an event that will bring together approximately 35 national associations. On this occasion, the organisation will be sharing space and agenda with Evenia Hotels and the Olympic Conference Centre.

AMT Sol y Playa awards technological innovation in smart destinations

The Alliance of Sun and Beach Tourist Municipalities (AMT) presented the awards for the 8th edition of the AMT Smart Destinations Awards, as part of the #techYdestino forum at FITURTECHY, which was held in the context of the International Tourism Trade Fair (Fitur).

The AMT Smart Destinations Awards recognise the technological solutions and tools already implemented that help tourism destinations advance in their transformation towards Smart Tourism Destinations (DTI). In addition, a new category has been added to highlight an innovative project implemented by a destination.

The member municipalities of the AMT -Salou, Calvià, Adeje, Arona, Torremolinos, Lloret de Mar, San Bartolomé de Tirajana and Benidorm-, together with the Instituto Tecnológico Hotelero (ITH), recognise the efforts to overcome the challenges of digitalisation and sustainability in the tourism sector.

In the presence of the Secretary of State for Tourism, Rosario Sánchez Grau, representatives of the Alliance of Sun and Beach Tourist Municipalities, the ITH and SEGITTUR were in charge of presenting these awards to the entities and companies in the categories of integral management of the destination, interaction with tourists and citizens, environmental sustainability and promotion and marketing of the destination.

In the first of these, for ‘Integral Destination Management’, the winner was OK Located. This is a technological and innovative mobile platform focused on territorial cohesion, which digitalises cities and municipalities, allowing them to access tourist, cultural and commercial information through proximity.

In the category of ‘Interaction with tourists and citizens’, the winning proposal was Freeplantour. A platform that instantly generates travel itineraries for any destination in any language.

The third category awarded the ‘Promotion and marketing’ proposals. The jury took into account the work of Barceló Hotel Group. A digital platform that offers experiences in collaboration with local suppliers that invite travellers to immerse themselves in discovering their true essence

Also recognised in the ‘Sustainability’ section was Murmuration. A space that provides the necessary indicators to integrate environmental issues into all decision chains and for all stakeholders, including governments, businesses and the general public.

Finally, in the new category of ‘Innovative Destination Project’, the winner was the City Council of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. With its DataLAB project, it includes four initiatives based on digital transformation and artificial intelligence, continuous measurement, decision making, support for citizens, tourists and the business community, as well as efficient management of municipal services.

The Jury was made up of representatives of the Alliance of Sun and Beach Tourism Municipalities (AMT) and a group of professional experts from the national tourism and hotel sector, members of FITUR, SEGITTUR, Invat-tur and ITH.

The finalists in each category were:

  • Integrated destination management:

Placenet Internet of Places
Ok Located
Interactive System Developers

  • Interaction with tourists and citizens

Wireless Galicia
Freeplantour
Class One Group

  • Destination promotion and marketing

Keibell APP
Barceló Hotel Group
ID Tech & Com

  • Environmental sustainability

Effiwaste
AsoPMR
Murmuration

  • Innovative destination project

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria City Council
Benissa Town Hall
Dénia Town Council

About the AMT Sol y Playa

The Alliance of Sun and Beach Tourist Municipalities was created in 2017 with the initiative of eight pioneering tourist destinations in Spain, such as Adeje, Arona, Benidorm, Calvià, Lloret de Mar, Salou, San Bartolomé de Tirajana and Torremolinos. The key objectives are to address the problems affecting the financing of tourist municipalities and the commitment to the digitisation of the sector, sustainability, accessibility and cooperation between destinations.

Lloret de Mar present at FITUR 2025 with outstanding new features

Lloret Turisme, Lloret de Mar’s tourism management and promotion body, has kicked off the year by demonstrating its leadership in tourism at Fitur, Spain’s leading tourism trade fair, held from 22 to 26 January in Madrid. Lloret Turisme attended with a delegation led by the Mayor of Lloret, Adrià Lamelas, and the Councillor for Tourism, Frederic Guich. The Mayor explained that “2025 presents important opportunities for Lloret de Mar and with the recognition of the supra-municipal government for the work carried out in different strategic areas such as innovation and digitalisation, product specialisation and the commitment to the green and ecological transition, which allow us to continue to be a benchmark and leader in the sector”. Last year Lloret de Mar closed the season with a figure of 1,250,825 travellers and 5,405,176 overnight stays (according to INE data from January to November), with an increase in overnight stays, especially from May to October.

Lloret de Mar, Smart Tourist Destination

One of the main novelties at Fitur was the awarding of the Smart Tourism Destination label. In addition to Lloret de Mar, only the following cities in Spain have achieved this objective: Barcelona, Bilbao, Benidorm, San Sebastián, Gijón and Santander.

The Smart Tourism Destination label is awarded by the Secretary of State for Tourism through SEGITTUR (State Society for the Management of Innovation and Tourism Technologies) only to destinations that obtain a score equal to or higher than 80% in the degree of compliance with the requirements that make up the DTI methodology, consisting of a total of 216 indicators from five blocks considered as backbone and essential to build a strategy for the future: governance, sustainability, accessibility, innovation and technology. In the last 2024, for example, different projects have been implemented, such as intelligent pedestrian crossings, the digitalisation of the  Tourist Information Offices or the video surveillance camera project to improve public safety at the points of greatest tourist influx.

Lloret de Mar presides over the Alliance of Leading Sun and Beach Tourism Municipalities (AMT) this 2025

The Mayor of Lloret, Adrià Lamelas, chairs the Alliance of Leading Sun and Beach Tourist Municipalities (AMT), an association comprising the eight main tourist destinations in Spain: Adeje, Arona, Benidorm, Calvià, Salou, San Bartolomé de Tirajana (Maspalomas), Torremolinos and Lloret de Mar. These municipalities receive 20% of the international overnight stays in Spain and generate 4% of the tourist jobs in Spain. The objective of the Mayor of Lloret is to continue working towards one of the main objectives of the alliance, which is to improve the financing of tourist towns and the coexistence between residents and visitors. Along these lines, Lloret de Mar Town Council is developing a Strategic City Plan with short-, medium- and long-term actions. Another strategic project is the positioning of these tourist destinations under the Blue Tourism concept, reinforcing their commitment to environmental sustainability. In this area, Lloret de Mar is also a pioneer with a tourism offer that includes a wide range of proposals in the natural environment and the regenerated water project to deal with periods of drought.

As part of FITUR, the Mayor of Lloret held a meeting with the other mayors who are part of the Alliance of Tourist Municipalities, who also took part in the round table discussion “Sustainable and digital destinations: the new gold of tourism”, a reflection on how destinations are incorporating sustainability and digitisation as a competitive advantage.

Inauguration of Next Generation projects in Lloret de Mar

In 2025, two important projects will come into operation in Lloret de Mar with European Next Generation funds: the municipal market, with a budget of 2.5 million euros, which will combine the sale of local products and gastronomic tasting, and the natural amphitheatre in the Santa Clotilde Gardens, with an estimated budget of 580,000 , which offers spectacular views over Cala Boadella and and the Costa Brava, and has a capacity for 300 people.

Lloret de Mar is one of the first municipalities to achieve the new recognition as a destination “Catalonia, HELLO family!”

As part of Fitur, Lloret de Mar has also won another award, in this case for its specialisation in family tourism. Lloret de Mar has become one of the first three municipalities to receive the “Catalonia, HELLO family!”.

The Mayor of Lloret received the award from the Honourable Miquel Sàmper, Catalan Minister for Enterprise and Employment. Miquel Sàmper, Minister of Enterprise and Employment, the recognition of the destination “Catalonia, HELLO family!”.

The Department of Enterprise and Employment, through the Catalan Tourism Agency (ACT), is promoting the new “Catalonia, HELLO family!” award to identify, publicise and promote in outbound markets those tourist destinations whose public-private offer has high standards of specialisation and adaptation to the family segment. Lloret de Mar has 24 certified companies, including hotels, activity companies and municipal facilities.

This new recognition is the evolution of the family tourism brand created 20 years ago by the Catalan Tourism Agency, of which Lloret de Mar has been a certified destination since 2010.

150 most influential tourism professionals 2025 event

Businessman Damià Font, founder of Marmirada and owner of the Hotel Acapulco; Cristina Cabañas, president of Guitart Hotels; and Elizabeth Keegan, manager of Lloret Turisme were this year’s winners at the official presentation of the sixth edition of the list of the 150 + Influencers in the tourism sector, which took place at Fitur.

Pride Costa Brava (4 to 6 July).

Within the framework of Fitur LGTB+ Lloret Town Council and the Plurals association presented the poster for the “IV PRIDE COSTA BRAVA – Abanico’s weekend 25”to the Minister for Equality, Ana María Carmen Redondo, which will take place from 4th to 6th July and which has become the benchmark LGTBIQ+ event on the Costa Brava.

20 years of filming in Lloret de Mar: new Lloret Film Office website

In 2025 Lloret de Mar also celebrates the twentieth anniversary of the creation of the Lloret Film Office which, under the umbrella of Lloret Turisme, promotes the attraction of audiovisual productions in Lloret de Mar with the aim of creating a new focus for economic dynamisation, deseasonalising and taking advantage of the high promotional impact of this industry.

The new Lloret Film Office website, a platform that provides information on the procedures, locations, filmography and services and facilities offered by Lloret de Mar for producers and location scouts, was presented at Fitur, specifically in the Fitur SCREEN space.

Over the past 20 years, more than 800 productions have been shot and photographed in Lloret de Mar, with major projects such as House of the Dragon, Uncharted, El Inocente, Mano de Hierro, Casa en flames or Mrs. Davis. In addition, there are also many advertising production companies that have become loyal over the years and have shot commercials in Lloret for brands from different fields such as retail, automotive, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and technology.

Lloret de Mar presents the 4th edition of the Pride Costa Brava to the Minister for Equality at the FITUR LGBT event

As part of FITUR LGBT, the IV PRIDE COSTA BRAVA in Lloret de Mar, one of the most important events for the LGTBIQ+ community, has been presented, which this year will be held from 4 to 6 July.

The Mayor of Lloret, Adrià Lamelas; the Councillor for Equality, Míriam Rodríguez; the LGTBIQ+ Association of Lloret PLURALS; the municipal councillors Albert Ferràndez and Jennifer Pérez; the President of the Hotel and Catering Guild, Enric Dotras; and the President of the Traders’ Association, Erwin Cardenas, presented the poster to the Minister for Equality, Ana María Carmen Redondo, and the Director General for Real and Effective Equality for LGTBI People at the Ministry of Equality, Julio Del Valle de Íscar.

The Mayor of Lloret de Mar stressed that “The 4th PRIDE Lloret de Mar is an opportunity to show the world that diversity is a richness, not only in the social sphere, but also in tourism. In Lloret de Mar we are very proud of the open and hospitable character that our town has always had and which is a deeply rooted sign of our identity”.

Pride Costa Brava is organised on the occasion of International LGBTIQ+ Pride Day, 28 June, a date on which the LGBTIQ+ community celebrates, demands and calls for tolerance and equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, intersex, queer and other socially excluded sexual orientations or gender identities.

In addition, the Pride Costa Brava also has a presence in the specialised magazine Shangay, one of the reference media of the collective.

Lloret de Mar is one of the pioneering tourist destinations in terms of LGBTIQ+ leisure, with origins dating back to the 1950s.

Lloret de Mar becomes a Smart Tourist Destination

The Secretary of State for Tourism, Rosario Sánchez, has presented the Mayor of Lloret de Mar, Adrià Lamelas, with the recognition that makes Lloret de Mar a Smart Tourism Destination after being assessed by the DTI methodology of the Secretary of State for Tourism, as part of the FITUR international trade fair.

The Mayor of Lloret explained that “this is a strategic milestone as Lloret de Mar has stood out in many areas and has positioned itself as a benchmark in terms of sustainability and accessibility”. Of the more than two hundred diagnoses carried out throughout Spain, only seven destinations have demonstrated that they meet more than 80% of the requirements and can be considered smart destinations: Lloret de Mar, Barcelona, Bilbao, Benidorm, Donostia-San Sebastián, Gijón-Xixón, and Santander. This recognition will be valid for the period 2024-2026, when Lloret will again have to pass the audit by the Secretary of State for Tourism.

The city of Lloret de Mar has been analysed in the 5 axes of the methodology (governance, innovation, technology, accessibility and sustainability), where 97 requirements and 261 indicators have been analysed.

Lloret de Mar has achieved the best scores in the areas of sustainability, accessibility, governance and technology, while it is in innovation where it has the greatest room for improvement, as reflected in the diagnosis report drawn up by the State Society for the Management of Innovation and Tourism Technologies (SEGITTUR).

Of all these, sustainability is Lloret de Mar’s strong point, with 100% compliance in 24 of 38 requirements. These include: management of the destination’s seasonal nature, legislation for natural and cultural heritage, marketing for sustainable tourism and protection of the local natural environment and its biodiversity, among others.

Accessibility is also another notable area in the city, as Lloret de Mar obtained the highest score in requirements such as: planning in terms of accessibility, encouraging user participation in improving accessibility, promoting the development of accessibility through technological/innovative solutions, and information and prior planning for users with different needs.

In terms of governance, Lloret de Mar scored 100% in the creation of the tourism product, the training programme in the local authority and in companies, the public-private and public-public partnership structures, and the monitoring of actions to promote tourism.

Lloret de Mar‘s degree of compliance is also high in many of the requirements of the technology axis, achieving 100% in cloud and edge computing solutions, sensorisation and management systems, tourism intelligence, traceability of promotional campaigns and smart signage, among others.

The analysis carried out by SEGITTUR during the diagnosis process also showed that Lloret de Mar stands out in terms of innovation, such as the promotion of open innovation, the development of innovative tourism products and services and process innovation.

Action plan

Among the areas for improvement, especially with regard to innovation, it is proposed to draw up an innovation strategy, promote innovation in tourism through calls for tenders, strengthen training in innovation for innovative staff, draw up a social innovation plan, carry out surveys on the perception of innovation in the destination and on the measurement of innovation in tourism companies.

The recommendations contained in this roadmap will help Lloret de Mar to continue to focus on those issues in which it already has extensive and successful experience. The city will also be able to reinforce its actions in the areas for improvement highlighted in the diagnosis report.