We went to Bordeaux and Toulouse to visit 15 agencies specialising in event and incentive organisation potentially interested in presenting their corporative clients with new proposals.

These visits resulted in an agreement for collaboration between the Costa Brava Girona Convention Bureau and SOP Events to organise an after-work activity in April. This will take the form of a professional workshop to put businesses from the Costa Brava and Girona Pyrenees MICE sector in contact with travel managers from the agency’s main corporate clients, which include important companies from the car industry, telecommunications, aeronautics and insurance sectors.

The commercial agenda generated direct business requests to hold 5 company annual conventions and 2 incentive trips in the province of Girona, with one of the latter being for a thousand people.

Apart from our visits to agencies, we also had the chance to visit a rugby club, where we proposed holding sports camps on the Costa Brava, in line with our strategy to reinforce the Costa Brava and Girona Pyrenees’ international positioning as a sports tourism destination.

The professionals that we contacted valued the Costa Brava and Girona Pyrenees MICE product range for its proximity, as an alternative to large European cities and as excellent value for money in comparison with other business tourism destinations.

High-speed train access and proximity to Barcelona were common points of interest among the event organisation agencies. They also showed great interest in the competitiveness and diversity of accommodation and venues for event organisation, as well as the variety of the range of culture, landscape and gastronomy available in the Costa Brava and Girona Pyrenees.

Due to its proximity, France is one of the principal priority markets for Girona’s business tourism sector.