thermal 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.

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.

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.

The tourist slogan for the north-eastern Catalan county of La Garrotxa is “Rough land” because of the touch of the area’s volcanic clay. Aside from that unappealing logo, La Garrotxa is one of the most interesting tourist zones not only in Catalonia but also in Spain. This volcanic area, the widest in the Iberian Peninsula, has numerous natural, cultural and gastronomic interests. Its privileged location, between the Mediterranean Sea and the Pyrenees, makes the zone a perfect place for tourism in the heart of the countryside, allowing the visitor to forget about stress and discover unique landscapes, gastronomy, history and folklore.

Thermal tourism continues to increase, but the sector still has to get rid of the stigma that associates it with the elderly. As a result of this image and the current economic context, people from the sector want to reinvent their business in order to reach publics of all ages. In the coming months thermal centres will begin to sell tourist packages destined for young people across Europe.