Promotional initiative in the Italian market

Nine tour operators specialised in culture attend the closure of the Salvador Dalí exhibition in Milan and express an interest in exploring the Costa Brava.

The Salvador Dalí exhibition, which has been open for the last four months at the Palazzo Reale in Milan, came to a close on 30^th January. The Patronat de Turisme Costa Brava Girona carried out a final promotional initiative targeted at tour operators, inviting them to discover Dalí as a cultural product, along with the general tourism offer of the Costa Brava and the Pirineu de Girona. Prior to the opening of the exhibition, the Patronat de Turisme implemented various promotional initiatives aimed at the Italian media and general public with the goal of presenting and stimulating the interest of exhibition visitors in the Costa Brava, the geographical area so closely associated with the artist from L'Empordà.

On 17^th January, the Patronat de Turisme organised a guided tour of the exhibition for a specific group of tour operators specialised in cultural trips to Catalonia, during which they were given a presentation and information pack on the Dalí triangle and the Costa Brava destination as a whole. The most noteworthy agencies taking part included King Holidays, an agency which already includes the Costa Brava in its brochures and which is looking for fresh concepts for individual and group travel, Naar, the operator of the Italian Touring Club, the most important cultural association in Italy, which in 2012 will create a specific catalogue for Europe including a special Costa Brava package, and Il Girasole Viaggi, an agency specialised in train travel, which expressed an interest in the Vall de Núria mountain resort and its cog railway. Other participating agencies were Girobus Viaggi, Mbros Viaggi-Museum Tour, Cocktail Viaggi and Duomo Viaggi.

At the end of the exhibition tour, the group was taken to Milan's Llevataps restaurant, where a meal was served featuring typical dishes and produce of Girona's cuisine.

On the following day, technicians from the Patronat de Turisme visited five travel agencies in the city to give a more detailed explanation of the previous day's contents and logistical issues regarding the Costa Brava. These meetings led to the design of a cultural package for group visits to the Girona area, taking in Besalú, Sant Ferran Castle in Figueres and Peralada Castle.