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More than 6,000 athletes will pass through the sports facilities of Lloret de Mar this first quarter of 2023

Lloret de Mar, March 13, 2023.- The municipal sports facilities of Lloret de Mar will host this first quarter of 2023 70% more international athletes compared to the same period in 2022 and 9% more compared to the figures of 2019. A total of 6,029 athletes will go through the sports facilities (905 in January, 1499 in February and 3625 in March), representing a total of 112 training sessions for different teams, among which the Metec cycling team (Netherlands) stand out, the Ligue Occitanie team from Thriatlon (France) and three American football teams who have already confirmed that they will repeat their stay in Lloret next year. Ana Garcia Castany, councilor for sports, explains that “we have recovered the presence of international athletes, especially those from Sweden, France, Poland, Norway and Switzerland”. In terms of sports disciplines, the football, triathlon, swimming and athletics training camps stand out.

This week, Lloret Tourism has carried out two actions linked to sports tourism and which continue the strategy of positioning the destination in this segment. On the one hand, there was a familiarization trip organized by the Catalan Tourism Agency and the Costa Brava Girona Tourism Board with different tour operators from the Nordic countries specializing in paddle tennis. During their time in Lloret they were able to visit the sports area and specifically the municipal padel courts, and they participated in a networking lunch with different specialized companies from the territory at the L’Azure hotel, accommodation certified in sports tourism by the Catalan Tourism Agency.

In addition, last Friday the manager of Lloret Turisme, Elizabeth Keegan, participated in a round table of the day “Tourism and Sport” organized by the City Council of Calvià in Peguera (Mallorca). Under the title “Sport as a way to change the tourism model of mature destinations” he shared the experience, strategy and specialization of Lloret de Mar in the sports tourism product together with the managers of the municipalities of Salou and Calvià, Marc Espasa and Xavier Pascuet. Elizabeth Keegan highlighted that “the success of the sports tourism project in Lloret de Mar lies in the public-private collaboration and that the destination has key local agents to develop strategic actions”

Since 2006, Lloret de Mar  has been certified as a Sports Tourism Destination in the sports of football, athletics, cycling, swimming, team sports and triathlon. The municipality currently has 12 accommodation companies and 2 reception agencies certified in sports tourism by the Catalan Tourism Agency, in addition to 17 establishments and 2 reception agencies certified in cycle tourism.

The tenth edition of the Lloret de Mar Rally gets under way

Today, Friday, Lloret de Mar will once again be the epicentre of the motor racing world with a rally that has once again put the Girona town in the spotlight in the sporting arena. The good work carried out in previous seasons has consolidated the interest of the teams in attending a rally that this year has increased its competition mileage and has incorporated interesting new features.

The Lloret rally offers a spectacular setting and a 177-kilometre timed route made up of the most legendary sections of the province of Girona, perfect for preparing the sporting year for many teams. The event will also open the State and Catalan Rally Championships.

In just four editions since the event was revived by V-Line Org. in 2020, the foreign presence has grown exponentially year after year. Teams from all over Europe have echoed the Rally Lloret, which will include French, British, Danish and Dutch participants, highlighting the good projection of the Rally Lloret de Mar, not only in Spain but also internationally.

Also noteworthy is the increase in the number of entries in the Rally2 category, the benchmark in international championships, which has risen to around twenty models of all brands, with leading teams in the Spanish Rally Superchampionship and the different regional championships in Spain and France.

The excitement in the Speed category will also be experienced in the section reserved for two-wheel-drive vehicles (2WD), where drivers who have stood out in Europe will compete. It is worth highlighting the presence of a special vehicle, the Seat Ibiza Kit Car, a model that brought worldwide success to the Martorell brand in the 90s.

Still within this modality, the 10th Rally Lloret de Mar will focus all the media spotlights thanks to a premiere that will not go unnoticed. It will be the debut in our country of the young promise Gil Membrado, who will become the youngest driver to debut in Spanish territory with only 15 years old. He will do it on board of a Ford Fiesta Rally4 and accompanied by the well-known Cantabrian co-driver Carlos del Barrio.

As if that wasn’t enough, the Girona event will also feature the best Regularity Sport and Regularity Regularity specialists who, together with the Legend cars, will fill the entry list with authentic competition gems that will delight the most passionate fans. Seat Históricos will repeat the experience of the 2022 edition and will bring three of the Catalan brand’s signature vehicles to Lloret.

The action will begin on Friday 10th from 10.30am with the traditional shakedown near Lloret de Mar, while the official start ceremony is scheduled for 5.15pm from the Sea Promenade.

 

Lloret de Mar becomes the venue for the international presentation of the new electric and gravel bicycle models from FOCUS

From 26 October until Sunday 30 October, Lloret de Mar is hosting the Partner Days of the well-known German company FOCUS, where the new models of electric mountain and gravel bikes are presented to its international partners and customers from Australia, Colombia, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Spain, Finland, Norway, Poland, Italy, the United Kingdom, Slovenia and the Netherlands. A total of 400 participants, arriving these days in different groups in staggered groups, are staying at the L’Azure hotel, which has adapted different rooms as exhibition spaces and has also set up an area in the municipal sports pavilion with a bike station planter where customers, mostly sellers of these models of bicycles worldwide, can try them out while enjoying the different mountain and gravel routes that Lloret de Mar has to offer.

Focus is a Stuttgart-based company that manufactures different types of high-end bicycles. It is a prestigious brand with strong links to cycling champions.

Elizabeth Keegan, manager of Lloret Turisme, explains that “the organisers have chosen Lloret de Mar for its professionalism in the cycling product, both in terms of the private offer with specialised hotels and services, and for the diversity of routes in a privileged setting that combines sea and mountains and therefore allows its customers to enjoy and offer a unique experience. And in terms of destination, it is very interesting for Lloret de Mar to have alliances with these top international specialised brands”.

Lloret de Mar has an environment that is perfectly adapted to the needs of cyclists with a well-structured product consisting of eleven recommended road routes and six mountain routes that incorporate elements of heritage and natural interest. It also has two maps, one for each mode in five languages with technical information on the routes, which have also been uploaded to the applications commonly used by cyclists, Wikiloc and Strava, and on the new interactive map website of Lloret de Mar, maps.lloretdemar.org. All of Lloret Cycling‘s material has been brought together on a website that encompasses all the public and private offers related to this sporting product in Lloret de Mar (www.lloretdemar.org). The destination also has around fifteen certified establishments specialising in cycle tourism.

It is also worth highlighting the specialised MICE offer of the Lloret Convention Bureau, with more than 60 members including hotels, unique venues, gastronomy and services for events, which facilitates the organisation of all types of conventions, congresses, product presentations and incentives in our city, and which, together with the specialised offer in cycle tourism, establishing an important MICE & Sports tandem, has helped FOCUS to choose Lloret de Mar as the venue for its event. In this way, the Lloret Convention Bureau has become a facilitator in the destination that helps event organisers with both the private offer and the public service needs that these companies may require.

Around 900 people, including Brazilian footballers and their companions, are in Lloret de Mar for the AFIA Spain-Catalonia 2022 Cup

Since last Friday, Lloret de Mar has become the venue for the Copa AFIA Espanha-Catalunha, the biggest senior football championship in the world, which has brought to the destination nearly 900 visitors from Brazil, half footballers, half accompanying persons. A total of 20 teams are participating, from 16 different cities and 3 regions of Brazil, who are staying exclusively at the Hotel L’Azure along with accompanying persons and technical staff. The football pitches in the municipality are also at full capacity throughout the week. The event, which was due to be held for the first time in May 2020, is expected to be held again next year in Lloret de Mar, as a two-year agreement has been signed that can be extended for a further two years.

The technical infrastructure of this event includes live streaming and VAR, as well as a special programme for accompanying persons.

The manager of Lloret Turisme, Elizabeth Keegan, explained that “this sporting event is a clear example of new tourism trends with senior clients who are still very active, with high purchasing power and who are looking for these differential experiences, such as a tournament outside their own country, which they can then combine with visits to the region”. The expected economic impact on the region, according to the organising company, is €3,000 for each participant, totalling almost €2.7 million.

The closing ceremony will take place next Thursday evening at the Lloret Theatre.

Football was the clear sporting protagonist this weekend as Lloret de Mar also hosted the Futbol IN event, a grassroots football tournament with the best clubs in Spain and Europe. The event was attended by 120 teams in the alevín, benjamín and prebenjamín categories, with a total of 1,600 participants and more than 5,000 spectators. Some of the most outstanding teams were Barça, Betis, Valencia, Atlético de Madrid, Juventus, Milan and Olympique Lyon.

Lloret de Mar has been certified as a sports tourism destination by the Government of Catalonia since 2006 in six disciplines and currently has 14 hotels certified in sports tourism. Every year, its sports facilities welcome more than 61,000 sportspeople and their companions, and more than 400 sporting events are organised.

Lloret hosts the 15th International Open of Catalonia with 144 participants

Golf Lloret Pitch & Putt in Lloret de Mar hosted last weekend, 23rd and 24th April, the 15th edition of the Catalonia International Open; a competition on the FIPPA (International Pitch & Putt Federation) calendar where 144 players of different nationalities (Irish, Dutch, Andorran, Galician, Norwegian, British, Basque, French, Swiss and Catalan) took part. The Catalan players who participated had passed the preliminary phase that took place the previous weekend.

The two final winners in the men’s and women’s categories were Oriol Mas and Encarna Robledo, both born in Lloret de Mar, who retained the title they won in 2021.

The trophy ceremony was attended by, among others, Víctor Moscatel, President of the FIPPA; Anna Julià, Territorial Representative of Sports of the Girona Region of the Generalitat de Catalunya and Anna Garcia-Castany, Sports Councillor of the City Council of Lloret de Mar.

Ariadna Pallàs, director of Golf Lloret P&P wanted to “give special thanks to Lloret Town Council and the Catalan Pitch & Putt Federation for their collaboration, the dedication of their team and the good atmosphere among the players, the main protagonists”.