sports tourism

B-Travel is a Barcelona-based tourism show bringing together some 215 exhibitors from across the industry and more than 50 different destinations. The event, one of the most important of its kind in Europe, kicked off on Friday at Fira de Barcelona's Montjuïc venue, taking over Catalonia's International Tourism Fair after 23 years. Conceived as a new meeting point for travellers and tourism companies seeking enriched customer experiences, it aims at tailoring the tourist offering to each visitor's needs. This year, attendees can sign up to the B- Travel Internet Community upon their arrival and receive customised information on the vast array of tourism offers on display, focusing on specific types of tourism such as cultural, gastronomic, shopping, rural, and adventure sports, among others.

The Andorra-la Seu d’Urgell Airport kicked off its public and commercial activities on Thursday, and is able to host aircraft of up to 40 seats. The old La Seu d’Urgell’s airfield, in the middle of a Pyrenean valley and only 15km away from Andorra, has been updated to go beyond being a facility merely used by recreational light aircraft. From now on, small commercial airliners, charter flights and air taxis will be able to operate from this mountain airport very close to Catalonia’s and Andorra’s main ski resorts. The new facilities will be managed by the Catalan Government and Andorra, which will meet half of its operational costs. The Catalan Executive is currently negotiating with 8 companies that may be interested in flying from the airport. Furthermore, the permits needed to host flights from outside the Schengen Area are expected to be granted by the Spanish authorities during 2015.

On Monday, the 'World Travel Market' (WTM) opened in London and Catalonia is participating with a 300 m² exhibition stand promoting a variety of its tourist destinations and highlighting its uniqueness with areas as diverse as the city of Barcelona, the Costa Brava and the Penedès wine region. The WTM is highly important in the tourism and travel industry, and represents a crucial opportunity for business networking and attractive investment. Catalonia’s participation strengthens its growing importance as a holiday destination for British tourists, who have increased by 4% and represent revenue of €1 billion in the first 10 months of 2014, the second largest after the French. Through the event, Catalan companies will mix with 5,000 other organizations from 200 countries, with an estimated 50,000 professionals from the industry participating.

Barcelona Olympic Ring will become the home of the first theme park in the world entirely dedicated to sports, called Open Camp Sportainment. According to the company responsible for the project, the 66.000 m² theme park will offer a "unique" show involving technology, family and sports. The new attraction will occupy the current Olympic Stadium, the Palau Sant Jordi sports hall, the Olympic Museum, the Bernat Picornell swimming pool, the telecommunications tower designed by Santiago Calatrava and the INEFC sports faculty. All these facilities will combine their regular activities with those of the theme park, which will be open from April to October. The project expects 7,000 visitors per day and an annual economic impact for Barcelona of 53 million euros.  

In 2013, Catalonia was the first tourist destination in Spain. It received15.6 million foreign visitors, meaning 25.7 % of the total number of international tourists in Spain (one in four). The figure represents an 8% increase over the previous year. The Balearic Islands were in second place, welcoming over 11 million tourists (18.3%), a 7.2% increase. The Catalan Minister for Business and Employment, Felip Puig, stressed that tourist spending also increased significantly, generating €14.2 billion in 2013, that is to say 14% more than the previous year. At Spanish level, the number of foreign visitors reached a new record: Spain welcomed 60.6 million tourists in 2013, making it the third favourite travel destination in the world, behind France and the United States.

In the first eleven months of 2013, Catalonia has been the favourite destination in Spain for international visitors. Indeed, 14,838,018 foreign tourists have travelled to Catalonia during this period, meaning 25.8 % of the total number of international visitors in Spain. This represents an increase of 7.4% over the same period in 2012. In November, Catalonia has welcomed 836,654 foreign tourists and has only been surpassed by the Canary Islands (1,073,759). Stays in hotels have also registered an upward trend: they have increased by 8.6% at Spanish level this month and by 4.1% in Catalonia. The majority of these foreign tourists come from France, the UK, and Germany while the number of visitors from Russia and Belgium has also increased significantly.

This Sunday, 800 tourists from the UK landed at Lleida-Alguaire Airport (Western Catalonia) to go skiing in the Pyrenees. The high number of English passengers is mostly due to the commitment of British tour operator Neilson Thomas Cook to the Catalan airport, which will run flights from Manchester, Southampton, Birmingham, Gatwick and Bristol. Until March, 20,000 skiers are expected to land in Lleida, along with 15,000 other visitors, to make the airport’s total number of passengers reach 35,000. Many of them will then cross the border to enjoy ski resorts in Andorra. According to the Catalan Government’s Delegate in the Lleida Province, Ramon Farré, these figures still show that “this airport is far from other airports in Spain which are not so successful”.

5 Major Catalan ski resorts launch their season this weekend, on the 23^rd and the 24^th of November: La Molina, Vall de Núria, Vallter, Masella and Baqueira Beret. Thanks to the weather of these past few days, the resorts have been able to advance their opening a week earlier than initially planned. Indeed, the snowfalls have been exceptional for this time of year, ranging between 30 and 100 centimetres. Vallter was the luckiest resort with a snow thickness varying between 90 and 100 centimetres. They will be launching their new season with a party and a new range of mountain activities for all snow sports fans. The final four Catalan resorts are expected to open within the next 10 days.

The Balfegó Group, which captures wild tuna to breed them and sell them to Japan, has launched a new ecotourism project: scuba diving surrounded by the Atlantic bluefin tuna, the world’s largest tuna species and a food delicacy. The ‘Tuna Diving Tour’ is located in L’Ametlla de Mar, on Catalonia’s Costa Daurada. Visitors sail by catamaran to the Balfegó Group’s giant bluefin tuna cages – situated in the middle of sea –, and then dive amongst 400 tuna, some of which are 2 metres long and weigh 250 kg. Each trip involves 20 visitors and they will receive a tour and learn about the process of catching and farming the endangered Atlantic bluefin tuna. The tour starts at 10 am, lasts two hours, and takes place every Sunday throughout the year.

The 21st edition of Catalonia’s International Tourism Fair takes place between April 20th and 22nd in Barcelona. In this annual trade fair, the sector displays its best offers and trends. This year sport tourism, wine tourism and the camping sector are some of the main attractions. More than 200,000 people are expected to visit the event. Tourism represents 12% of Catalonia’s GDP, employing more than 400,000 people. The Catalan tourist industry welcomed 23.5 million visitors in 2011 and earned €11.3 billion; estimates for 2012 expect figures to increase by 7%. National Geographic included the Costa Brava as one of its top 20 destinations worldwide.