From yesterday, 24th October, until 26th October, Lloret de Mar is the venue for the 2nd Sports & Events Workshop, an event organised by Eventoplus with the support of Lloret Turisme and the collaboration of the Costa Brava Girona Pyrenees Tourist Board and the Catalan Tourism Agency.
Lloret de Mar will become the international epicentre of sports tourism, bringing together around seventy buyers from more than 20 different countries specialising in sports tourism; specific agencies for events and sports stays, and incentive and meeting agencies from European countries such as Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, Holland, the United Kingdom and Spain, among others, will have the opportunity to hold scheduled one-to-one meetings with around seventy destinations and accommodations specialising in sports tourism, also at an international level.
Lloret de Mar has the participation of Lloret Turisme and the Lloret Convention Bureau on the public sector side, and on the private sector side, L’Azure hotel, Guitart hotels, Rosamar hotels, Santa Marta hotel, Gammarus Restaurant & Beach Club and the incoming agency Traveltec. In the words of the councillor for tourism, Frederic Guich, “Having 70 international sports tourism buyers at home is the best way to showcase our specialised offer, both in terms of equipment and facilities and the natural environment, which allow us to practice indoor and outdoor sports disciplines, as well as our specialised offer in accommodation and services, and at the same time it is a powerful showcase to consolidate our brand as a sports tourism destination in the professional sector”. The first edition of this international Sports & Events workshop took place last May in Valencia with great success.
A high percentage of these international buyers specialise in organising training camps in different sports, one of the categories of sports tourism for which Lloret de Mar is most in demand. Furthermore, in recent years the Lloret Convention Bureau has been promoting this Meetings&Events line of work, which combines the destination’s specialised offer in the field of meetings and congresses with experiential sports incentives that promote values such as teamwork and cohesion. In the words of the Councillor for Tourism, “Sports tourism and meetings and events tourism complement each other well, and in Lloret de Mar we are fortunate to have a specialised offering of both products”.
In addition to the two days of meetings, which take place at the L’Azure hotel, participants have a full experiential programme that includes the discovery of the destination in terms of sports, gastronomy and complementary activities to encourage contact between buyers and sellers, such as hiking along the new section of the coastal path, the Indiano route, the immersive experience of Lloret Castle, road cycling and mountain biking routes and the orienteering race with wine tasting in the Sant Pere del Bosc area.
Since 2006, Lloret de Mar has been certified as a Sports Tourism Destination for football, athletics, cycling, swimming, team sports and triathlon. The municipality currently has 12 accommodation companies and 2 incoming agencies certified in sports tourism by the Catalan Tourism Agency, as well as 17 establishments and 2 incoming agencies certified in cycle tourism.
