Mercat de Mercats Fair
16 tourism organisations from the Girona area, the wines of the DO Empordà and the Espai del Peix participate in the Mercat de Mercats fair in Barcelona.
MARCH 2014
From 19th to 21st October, the Patronat de Turisme, 16 tourism organisations and companies from the Girona area, producers of cava and DO Empordà wines, and the Espai del Peix (a gastronomic space devoted to fish in Palamós market) participated in the third Mercat de Mercats (Market of Markets) fair in Barcelona. This year's fair welcomed 250,000 visitors, an increase of 10% on the previous fair, and served to promote the agro-food, wine and tourism products of the Girona area among Barcelona's citizens and visitors and to boost gastronomic tourism in the destination.
The tourism offices and organisations of the Girona area that took part in the fair were as follows: L'Alt Empordà, El Baix Empordà, El Ripollès, El Gironès, La Cerdanya, La Selva, Turisme Garrotxa, Roses, Olot, La Vall de Núria, La Molina, La Masella, Vallter 2000, the greenways of the counties of Girona and Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (Railways of the Catalan Government), along with the Patronat de Turisme itself.
Two lecture rooms were set up in the Costa Brava and Pirineu de Girona space: a sommelier room where visitors could taste wines of the DO Empordà and Mont-Ferrant cava, and a room for tasting local products, the latter hosted by the Espai del Peix of Palamós. A selection of DO Empordà wine cellars offered their products for tasting: Gelamà, La Vinyeta, Setzevins, Martín Faixó and Empordàlia.
On the occasion of the fair, the Patronat de Turisme and the Sibarit.us Club organised an activity involving the matching of DO Empordà wines and local products from Girona for a group of twenty associates of this club, including food and wine professionals, gastronomic advisers and laypeople. The aim of the activity, led by the sommelier Anna Vicens, was to publicise and showcase the agro-food products of the Girona area.
Through these actions, the Patronat de Turisme is using the gastronomy of Girona and quality local agro-food products as a vehicle for boosting tourism and attracting visitors from local outbound tourism markets.
