Tez Tour Convention 2012
150 Tez Tour travel agents and 10 Russian journalists discover the Costa Brava and the Pirineu de Girona.
MARCH 2014
From 22nd to 27th May, the wholesale outbound travel company Tez Tour, the second largest provider of tourists from the countries of the Russian Federation to Spain and Catalonia, held its annual convention for the first time on the Costa Brava, attended by 150 travel agents and ten journalists. The chosen town for the convention, Lloret de Mar, now welcomes more Russian tourists per year than any other town in the Girona area.
The Patronat de Turisme Costa Brava Girona, the tourism promotion body of Girona Provincial Council, Lloret de Mar Town Council and the Catalan Tourism Agency of the Government of Catalonia contributed to the holding of the convention of Tez Tour travel agents by scheduling familiarisation trips in the area, aimed at promoting the destination and at enabling travel agents to discover the area's tourism products and publicise them among end customers.
Over the course of five days, the 150 Russian travel agents and tour operators went on three familiarisation trips to various parts of the Costa Brava and the inland area of the Girona province. Each trip was organised for a group of 50 people and was designed to show them the destination's tourism attractions and services: Girona, Dalí Theatre -Museum in Figueres, Peralada, Tossa de Mar, Blanes, Besalú, and Castell- Platja d’Aro, among others.
Meanwhile, a special schedule of visits and activities was organised for a group of ten journalists, taking in the mediaeval towns of Pals, Peralada, Besalú and Santa Pau, in La Garrotxa, Girona's old quarter, the Gala-Dalí Castle in Púbol, the Tossa de Mar’s old town, Palamós, Castell-Platja d’Aro, Lloret de Mar and Blanes. The journalists enjoyed a series of activities, including a hot-air balloon trip in the Natural Park of the Volcanic Zone of La Garrotxa, a tasting of DO Empordà wines and a boat trip, among others.
The journalists, who work for media outlets including RATA-news, Ekaterinburgo online, Teleshow, the RIA Novosti news and information agency, Ural Airlines Magazine, and the magazines Otdokni, Liza and Zhenskie Sekret, will subsequently write articles and features for their readership on the Costa Brava and Pirineu de Girona destination.
It is worth highlighting that the visit by Tez Tour travel agents to the area made an impact on social networks (according to TweetReach Tracker), generating 69,430 tweets and 232,779 impressions in ten days (#teztour).
The Patronat de Turisme, Lloret Turisme, the Catalan Tourism Agency and the private tourism sector of the coast and inland areas worked together on the contents of the familiarisation programmes for the travel agents and the Russian press with the goal of attracting more Russian tourism to the Girona destinations.
According to the Tourism Observatory of Catalonia, Catalonia welcomed 600,000 tourists from the Russian Federation in 2011. This year the figure is expected to rise by between 40% and 60%. As such, the Patronat de Turisme is sparing no effort to attract tourists from these countries to the Girona destinations.
