1st Montseny-Guilleries Nature Day

The Montseny-Guilleries area presents projects aimed at establishing itself as a nature tourism destination.

The Montseny-Guilleries Tourism Business Federation held the 1st Montseny-Guilleries Nature Day on 17th November, focusing on management strategies and opportunities for companies. The event, held at the European Cultural Centre for Nature in Viladrau, was attended by 70 people.

The event was held by the Montseny-Guilleries Tourism Business Federation, which groups together more than 160 companies from the area and which for some time has been coordinating efforts aimed at creating new products related to nature tourism and showcasing the area’s values.

Several objectives were set for the day. The first of these was to study the proposals presented in the document entitled Development Strategy for nature tourism in the Montseny-Guilleries area, aimed at harnessing its potential. Secondly, an analysis was made of the potential opportunities for the area represented by ecotourism and nature tourism, along with the importance of hiking and other activities in areas of great scenic interest. Lastly, some experiences were examined of the management, promotion and marketing of products that could be considered innovative.

Attendees at the event were welcomed by the Mayor of Viladrau, Francesc X. Bellvehí, after which the Secretary General of the Ministry for Innovation, Universities and Enterprise of the Catalan Government, Enric Aloy, officially opened the proceedings of the Nature Day.

The first talk focused on the problem issues faced by the tourism professionals of the Montseny-Guilleries area and their determination to work together in tackling them. Following this, a representative of Turisme de Catalunya explained a project proposal for promoting the identity values of the area, based on legends of witches and bandits, while a representative of the Montseny Natural Park explained the progress made concerning the proposal to join the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism.

A nature tourism development strategy for the area, commissioned by the Girona Provincial Council as a vehicle for moving projects forward, was also presented.

The last part of the Day enabled attendees to discover a range of experiences related to hiking and nature tourism. The first of these was the Itinerànnia initiative, a 2,500 km network of trails between the counties of El Ripollès, La Garrotxa and Alt Empordà, promoted by the their respective county councils and tourism associations. This was followed by a talk given by the representative for Spain of the magazine Wandermagazin on the characteristics of the German hiking market. Last of all, the characteristics of hiking as a tourism product were presented by a representative of the Catalan Association of Hiking Companies.

Enric Vilert, President of the Girona Provincial Council and of the Patronat de Turisme Costa Brava Girona, officially brought proceedings to an end, stating the need to promote cooperation between areas, institutions and companies in order to implement projects for boosting tourism in the area. In this respect, he gave a ringing endorsement of the dynamism shown by the Montseny-Guilleries Tourism Business Federation, a decisive factor in ensuring the feasibility of projects.