After a highly positive 2019, the Costa Brava Girona Convention Bureau puts forward a quality action plan to continue reinforcing the positioning of the destination’s MICE sector for the prime European markets (domestic, France, Benelux, United Kingdom, Ireland, Netherlands and Germany).
The destination’s international visibility
In 2019 the Costa Brava Girona Convention Bureau (CBGCB), with the aid of the local companies and convention bureaux that collaborate with it, reinforced the positioning of Costa Brava & Girona Pyrenees as an emerging business tourism destination for international operators looking for an alternative to the big European cities.
Firstly, sector events popular with European business tourism operators were brought to the region, including the M&I Tour de MICE and the Iberian MICE Forum Luxury Edition. Apart from the quality contacts made at them, these events publicise the destination’s attractions through their communication channels for a public with a high potential.
It was also the consolidation year for the Costa Brava Challenge Week, the third edition of which was organised around the central themes of sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. The action strengthened the destination’s positioning as a sustainable MICE option with the capacity to offer socially-responsible activities.
In addition, the actions undertaken so far to attract events to the region have paid off, as demonstrated by the Sociedad Española de Medicina y Emergencias Médicas Congress, the biggest event organised in the region to date, attended by almost 2,800 medical professionals. The event was based in the city of Girona, and held part of the program of activities in other towns in the province, like Lloret de Mar – where some delegates were lodged – and Sant Feliu de Guíxols.
The events organised throughout the year contributed to reinforcing the visibility of the destination’s brand with the MICE sector. In 2020 we plan to continue with this model through actions that position Costa Brava & Girona Pyrenees as the leading choice for event planners looking for authenticity and new options.
Actions with a style of their own
TastEmotion, the multisensory presentation of the business tourism options available in Costa Brava & Girona Pyrenees, takes to the road again with two editions in Madrid and one in the Irish city of Dublin.
Different workshops will also be organised in various European cities. In mid-March, over a hundred French agencies interested in business tourism destinations and members of the press will participate in the different MICE workshops to be held during the Roadshow in the cities of Toulouse, Montpellier and Lyon.
Later in the year, in May, the province of Girona’s MICE sector will be showcased with agents from the Nordic countries during a multi-product workshop held in Helsinki.
During the same month, the Costa Brava Girona Convention Bureau will bring together representatives of secretariat associations from the domestic market at a one-day networking event with business tourism executives from the region.
Participation in key MICE sector actions
Continuing with the activity of previous years, the CBGCB will showcase MICE options in Costa Brava & Girona Pyrenees at the sector’s most important events, building up contacts with professional event planners looking for alternative business tourism destinations to the big European cities.
First, it will be present at specific trade shows like IBTM World in Barcelona and IMEX Europe in Frankfurt. It will also take part in actions with a proven track record, like the ITB MICE Forum in Berlin, the Associations World Congress to be held in Cascais and M&I Europe Autumn in Madrid, to name just a few.
Besides this, as a novelty this year, we plan to attend M&I VIP Connect Americas, in Miami, to strengthen contact with the United States market, which at various trade meetings in Europe has shown that it knows about the business tourism options in the province of Girona.
It should also be pointed out that from April 22nd to 24th Costa Brava Girona will host the Catalunya Business Meetings Roadshow organised by Meet & Com to put more than 40 operators from the French MICE sector in contact with business tourism executives from the province of Girona.
Promotion of the destination
As a follow-up to the contacts made with agencies and opinion leader collectives, we will organise fam trips, including the groups of agency customers like Neokoncepts, SOP Events and Kuoni.
This year we will strengthen the role of commercial actions in promoting the region’s MICE sector, with actions in France, London and Madrid.
Similarly, we will continue to participate in the «Ambassadors Catalunya» programme run by the Catalunya Convention Bureau and to maintain support and showcasing of the destination at congresses and big events to be held in the province of Girona in 2020.
The action plan was presented at the end of January in the course of the Costa Brava Girona Convention Bureau’s annual assembly, held at Hotel Mas Solà in Santa Coloma de Farners, with the participation of about fifty members.During the meeting the results of the CBGCB’s activity in 2019 were presented. One of the year’s most significant figures is that 70% of the almost 200 business requests generated in 2019 came from agencies that had been previously contacted at promotional actions.
