FITUR Madrid 2012
The interviews and meetings held among professionals at FITUR Madrid 2012 have generated and boosted several collaboration and marketing initiatives to be developed over the course of the year.
MARCH 2014
From 18th to 22nd January, tourism organisations and companies from the Girona area took part in the International Tourism Fair, FITUR 2012, occupying two spaces incorporated within the Catalonia stand, to promote and offer information on the general tourism offer of the Costa Brava and the Pirineu de Girona. This year the organisers singled out the Catalonia stand “for its original design, the surprising environments that it recreated and its use of sustainable material”.
The Patronat de Turisme shared the 45 m2 Costa Brava space with the tourist town of Blanes. Meanwhile, Lloret de Mar and Girona had their own separate 30 m2 spaces, where information was offered on the specific products and services of each destination. The 75 m2 Pirineus de Catalunya space offered promotional material on the tourism offer of the Catalan Pyrenees, specifically the Pirineu de Girona, with the participation of the towns of Vall d’en Bas and Puigcerdà, along with the County Council of Cerdanya.
This year, the Costa Brava space contained large format images of the area's scenery and internationally renowned individuals such as Salvador Dalí and Ferran Adrià, ambassadors of the Costa Brava. The space included audiovisual elements –the voices of these figures, representing the art and gastronomy of the Girona area, and underwater background sounds– with the aim of emphasising the unique and outstanding values of the area, linking them directly to the tourism offer of the destination.
Organisations and towns from the Girona area used the event to make public presentations to the sector and media of new products, such as the Calonge- Sant Antoni Braille guide book, the Burricleta bicycle network, the Schubertiada –Schubert festival– in Vilabertran, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, the Intermón Oxfam – Trailwalker event, or the Girona10 campaign, among others.
The President of Girona Provincial Council and of the Patronat de Turisme, Jaume Torramadé, attended the fair, along with other Girona-based dignitaries and businesspeople from various sectors with the aim of holding work meetings. The Patronat de Turisme held several meetings at the fair with representatives of Russian tour operators, online booking engines and media outlets, etc.
Annual tourism review 2011
At the Madrid fair, the Director General for Tourism and the Director of the Catalan Tourism Agency presented a tourism review of 2011, as well as the main tourism action guidelines for 2012.
According to the initial end-of-year data gathered by the Directorate General for Tourism, Catalonia has welcomed 4.6% more foreign tourists in 2011, generating revenue in the region of 11.3 billion euros (7.8% more than the previous year), representing an all-time record revenue for the Catalan tourism sector.
Positive results have also been recorded in 2011 in respect of tourists from Catalonia and the rest of Spain. Spanish tourism has increased by 6.4%, while the number of Catalan tourists has increased by 7.6%. As regards tourist accommodation, hotels, campsites and rural houses have seen an increase in the number of tourists and overnight stays.
