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Lloret de Mar to increase sports tourism by 27.4% in 2023 compared to 2022

A total of 82,975 people related to sports tourism visited Lloret de Mar‘s sports facilities in 2023. This figure represents an increase of 27.4% compared to 2022, of which 45,922 were athletes (34%+) and 37,053 accompanying persons (23%+).

These figures were presented at the annual sports tourism round table organised by Lloret Turisme, which is made up of twenty accommodation establishments and two incoming agencies, all of which have been awarded the Catalan Tourist Board’s Sports Tourism Destination Certificate (DTE). This year, the Acapulco 4* Hotel, the Helios 4*S Hotel and El Trull Accommodation have also joined the group.

A total of 424 sports activities took place in Lloret in 2023, 80% of which were training camps. The data shows that the sports tourism season is getting longer; traditionally it has been held in March (4,037 sportsmen and women), April (11,552 sportsmen and women) and May (3,585 sportsmen and women), but in 2023 there were also very good figures in June (9,613 sportsmen and women) and July (5,977 sportsmen and women).

In terms of the number of participants, the most important sports are football with 14,301, basketball with 6,923 and athletics with 6,923. And in terms of the number of activities per nationality, France (77), Sweden (70), Catalonia (50) and the United Kingdom (26) stand out. These nationalities vary according to the sporting discipline: in athletics, France is in first place (19), followed by Catalonia (19) and Belgium (6); in football, Sweden (38), Switzerland (17) and Norway (14); in swimming, France (24), Germany (10) and Catalonia (5); in triathlon, France (22), Belgium (3) and Sweden (2); and finally, in cycling, France is in first place, followed by Belgium and the Netherlands.

The manager of Lloret Turisme, Elizabeth Keegan, explained that “these good figures are the result of the joint efforts of the public and private sectors, which work proactively to attract sports tourism through a series of promotional activities throughout the year, while also offering personalised attention once visitors are at the destination and maintaining constant contact, which contributes to the high level of loyalty that Lloret de Mar enjoys”. In this sense, Lloret Turisme is currently participating in the third edition of the Sports&Events Workshop in Calvià, a professional meeting that brings together more than a hundred operators from all over Europe specialised in sports tourism, where the Lloret team will conduct a total of twenty-four interviews. The Lloret companies L’Azure Hotel and Evenia Hotels will also participate. Last October, Lloret de Mar hosted the second edition of this benchmark event in the sports tourism sector. Following this, Lloret Turisme will also participate in a benchmark on cycle tourism organised by the Catalan Tourist Board and Cycling Friendly in Mallorca, with the aim of learning about the best practices of a benchmark destination in this field such as this island.

Lloret de Mar has been certified as a Sports Tourism Destination by the Catalan Tourist Board since 2006 and is the destination in Catalonia with the most certified sports (football, athletics, team sports, cycling, swimming and triathlon).

Lloret de Mar kicks off 2024 by taking part in a number of international tourism promotion actions

Lloret de Mar has started the year with a range of promotional tourism activities. From Wednesday to Sunday last week, Lloret Turisme was present at the Vakantiebeurs in Utrecht, the main tourism fair in the Netherlands, which every year devotes the first day to a professional day and from Thursday and throughout the weekend is open to the general public. This is a generic fair that in recent years has also focused on active tourism. In 2023, Lloret de Mar received a total of 45,128 travellers from the Dutch market (3.61% of the total), who generated 250,868 overnight stays at the destination (4.74% of the total).

From Saturday 13 January until Monday 15 January, Lloret Turisme was once again present at the Fahrrad und Wanderreisen fair in Stuttgart (Germany), a trade fair specialising in cycle touring and hiking. The manager of Lloret Turisme, Elizabeth Keegan, explains that “these are two fairs that allow us to showcase our natural surroundings and the wide range of activities on offer to enjoy them. This year, for example, we are presenting the new section of the coastal path linking Lloret and Fenals, with numerous viewpoints offering spectacular panoramic views of our coastline, which are combined along the route with different elements of Lloret’s cultural heritage”. German tourism closed 2023 with a total of 61,838 travellers (4.94% of the total), with 356,800 overnight stays (6.74% of the total).

The Lloret Convention Bureau also travelled to Norway to take part for the first time in the Travelmatch Norway workshop in Oslo, where it met with around twenty Norwegian event organisers. This is a benchmark event in the Scandinavian tourism sector, and the event was attended by Evenia Hotels’ Olympic Conference Centre, a venue that has hosted a number of conventions and events with delegates from the Nordic countries in recent years.

The Oslo visit was also used as an opportunity to make sales visits to event organising agencies that were not attending the event. In the words of the Director of the Lloret Convention Bureau, Montse Belisario, “Lloret de Mar has become a very attractive destination for this market thanks to its connectivity with Barcelona, the size and specialised offer of the destination, as well as the wide range of local experiences it offers for corporate events”.

Lloret de Mar continues its promotional activity in Ireland

The Lloret Convention Bureau, the division that promotes meetings and events tourism in Lloret de Mar, travelled to Dublin on Tuesday to take part in a promotional event to publicise the destination’s specialised offer in the meetings tourism segment. The Lloret Convention Bureau met with around thirty event organising agencies from all over Ireland. Montse Belisario, Director of the Lloret Convention Bureau, said, “this is the first time we have presented our value proposition in Ireland and we have attracted a lot of interest in the destination at MICE level, especially in terms of improved connectivity with Barcelona and Costa Brava Girona airports and the 4 main Irish airports”. The Catalonia Convention Bureau and the Barcelona Convention Bureau also took part in the workshop, which ended with a networking dinner.

Yesterday, 13 April, Lloret Turisme took part in the promotional event organised by the Costa Brava Tourist Board of Girona Provincial Council in Dublin. A total of thirty travel agents and around fifteen Irish journalists and content creators took part and were able to find out about the new features of the destination for the 2023 season: Lloret Castle, the Catalan Capital of Culture, new investments in accommodation and catering, etc.

This promotional event included a networking session with local companies, a dynamic activity and ended with a gastronomic meal prepared by establishments belonging to the Cuina del Empordanet collective. The Irish attendees included travel agencies such as Sunway, Cassidy Travel, Oscar Travel, ClubTravel, Trailfinders, Platinumtravel and Intele Travel, as well as media outlets such as Irelands Travel News, Sunday World, Mirror and Travelbiz, among others.

With these two promotional actions, Lloret Turisme is making progress in its action plan in Ireland, a market to which it has opened up this year and to which it offers a value proposition based on proximity (2 hours’ flight time), good connectivity and the attractions of Lloret’s tourist attractions for this family clientele that values sun and beach, with the components of gastronomy, nature and culture. The improved connectivity from Barcelona and Girona this season (with flights from Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Shannon and Knock) will help to increase the number of Irish arrivals to Girona destinations, especially from June onwards. Elizabeth Keegan, manager of Lloret Turisme, explains that “the action plan has focused on professional activities with tour operators, the media and opinion leaders in Ireland, enabling us to position and publicise our destination and its attractions”.

Last January Lloret Turisme took part in the Holiday World Show in Dublin, and in February in the Meet the Media event, also in Dublin, with Ireland’s leading media journalists and influencers.

According to the study on Tourists at Girona Costa Brava Airport, summer 2022, carried out by the Economics, Industry and Services Research Group of the University of Girona, Irish tourists travel mainly with their families, choose coastal destinations for an average stay of more than 8 nights -mostly in hotels- and spend 142 euros per person per day (one of the highest among foreign tourists). The study reveals that Irish visitors rate their stay in the destination as satisfactory, with 4.38 points out of 5.

The MICE and sports tourism segments are the focus of promotional activity in Lloret de Mar these days

This week Lloret Turisme and the Lloret Convention Bureau are taking part in various promotional activities linked to meetings and events tourism and sports tourism, two segments that, in the words of Elizabeth Keegan, “complement each other perfectly and form part of Lloret de Mar’s strategy to diversify its tourism products in order to deseasonalize and extend the season”.

From yesterday until 23 March, Lloret Turisme is taking part in the Sports&Events workshop, an international meeting in the field of sports tourism held in Valencia and organised by the Eventoplus Group, FC Sports Experiences (UK) and Sport&Tourism Consulting. The three-day programme aims to bring together suppliers and buyers in the field of international sports tourism. Other companies from L’Azure Hotel and Evenia Travel Services are also taking part. Also this week, on 25 and 26 March, Lloret Turisme is taking part in another trade fair linked to sports tourism, in this case cycling, the Copenhagen Bike Show. Lloret de Mar has 17 establishments and 2 incoming agencies specialising in cycling and a website that brings together the entire offer and routes: www.lloretcycling.com. This week we also received a visit from the German TTOO DFT Sports, who visited all the town’s sports facilities.

In terms of meetings and events tourism, with the recovery of international markets, the Lloret Convention Bureau is committed to various promotional activities at European level in 2023. It recently organised a webinar for different event organising agencies from the Nordic countries in conjunction with the L’Azure hotel, Evenia Hotels, the Santa Marta hotel, the Rigat Park hotel and the Delamar hotel. This action will be complemented by the Lloret Convention Bureau’s participation in the WS Max Day in Stockholm, which will be held in mid-June and will be attended by around fifteen Swedish event organising agencies. At the same time, the trip to Northern Europe will be used to make a series of commercial visits to Oslo with the aim of consolidating Lloret de Mar‘s presence in the Scandinavian market. Furthermore, this weekend the destination hosted a familiarisation trip linked to the “Break the Ice Forum” promotional action organised by the Costa Brava Convention Bureau with 17 organising agencies from the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Italy, among others.

This week the Lloret Convention Bureau is on a promotional tour of the French market, presenting Lloret de Mar from 21 to 23 March in the cities of Lyon, Marseille and Montpellier, as well as to some thirty event agencies. Evenia Hotels, Hotel L’Azure, Hotel Santa Marta, Hotel Rigat Park and Hotel Sant Pere del Bosc also took part. In the words of the Director of the Lloret Convention Bureau, Montse Belisario, “the French market continues to be one of the strategic markets, along with the domestic and Scandinavian markets, as well as the traditional European markets. Lloret de Mar’s proximity to the French border, its connectivity by plane or train, the destination’s tourist tradition and the wide range of specialised services available are very attractive to this target audience. In addition, actions such as these showcase the good working relationship between the public and private sectors”.

Lloret de Mar meets with Ireland’s leading media outlets

Lloret Turisme travelled to Dublin on Monday 13 February to take part in the “Meet the Media” event, which brings Ireland’s leading media and content creators into contact with tourism destinations and companies.

In 2023, the Irish market is one of the strategic markets for Lloret de Mar, with the opening of new connections between Girona and Ireland planned. Ireland has 5 million inhabitants, half of whom come to Spain on holiday. This year, the fact that Girona Airport will start operating with Cork, Shannon and Knock from April to October was highly valued by the media present at the workshop, who stressed that “these new connections make Lloret de Mar very attractive not only for holidays but also for city breaks, as until now the Irish had to travel to the capital, Dublin, to travel to Catalonia, which was a hindrance”.

In total, Lloret Turisme met with around twenty journalists, including the country’s leading media outlets such as the Irish Independent, The Irish Examiner, The Irish Times, The Irish Daily Star, Sunday Business Post, Dublin FM and content creators (blogs and social networks) in areas such as life style, adventure and family. Elizabeth Keegan explains that “with this commitment to enter the Irish market, it is important to create these alliances with general media and by product/interests that allow us to position Lloret as a sun and beach destination with a wide variety of active and cultural tourism proposals, proximity to cities such as Barcelona and Girona and specialisation in segments such as family or Adults Only, an offer that we have seen that they particularly value”. The filming of different scenes from “House of the Dragon” in Santa Clotilde Gardens, a series that has also been filmed in different parts of Ireland, has also attracted the attention of the media.

At the end of January, Lloret Turisme also took part in the Holiday World Show in Dublin, where it held meetings with various tour operators such as Sunway, the country’s leading tour operator, which has already programmed its destination and will be bringing tourists to Lloret de Mar for the first time this season.