Press trips and familiarisation trips
Travel agents and journalists explore and recommend the destination
MARCH 2014
13 journalists from Spain and abroad, together with 60 travel agents, visited tourist destinations, establishments and companies in the Girona area in November.
Starting with press trips, a group of six journalists from Madrid and Barcelona, representing media outlets such as the Destinos supplement of the newspaper El Periódico, the Cadena SER radio station, Lonely Planet, the website 7caníbales.com and the EFE press agency (gastronomy), travelled to the Girona area to discover inland restaurants in three counties (Selva, Ripollès and Garrotxa), sampling both Michelin-starred avant-garde cuisine and traditional cuisine, coinciding with the Origins Fair in Olot.
Furthermore, a familiarisation trip was organised for a group of eight Irish journalists from publications such as Irish Tatler, Sunday Independent, Independent Weekend, Irish Examiner; Irish News; Belfast Telegraph and Cara Magazine focusing on culture and gastronomy in Catalonia, including visits to Santa Pau, Figueres, Begur, Palamós and Girona. Finally, a Spanish production company filmed a programme in Girona for the Canal Cocina cooking channel, featuring the city's mayor.
As regards familiarisation trips, a group of 46 golf tour operators from all over the world, who were in the area to attend the IGTM 2013 in Salou, visited several golf courses in the destination to evaluate their facilities and complementary services. Meanwhile, 20 tour operators from Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Yekaterinburg also visited the area (Salvador Dalí Museum in Figueres, Peralada Castle, the Monastery of Sant Pere de Rodes and Girona) in order to complete a full programme of cultural and gastronomic activities.
Several private companies and entities from the Girona tourism sector participated and collaborated directly in the press and familiarisation trips.
