The Tourism Immersion Day certifies the recovery of Tourism in Torroella de Montgrí and l'Estartit, which returns to pre-pandemic figures

The Tourism Department of the Torroella de Montgrí City Council has taken stock of the tourist season and monitoring of the Sustainability Plan in a tourism immersion day with representatives of the sector. The event was held this Tuesday in the EMD Assembly Hall and certified that the Destination has recovered its pre-pandemic figures.

The Tourist Immersion Day, which is organized each year by the Territory Promotion Area of ​​the Torroella de Montgrí City Council, has already become an essential event for the municipality’s tourism sector, which attends it with the aim of seeing and participating in the balance of the season.

The occupancy of tourist establishments leaves the pandemic behind

The L’Estartit Tourist Office has reported an increase in the number of enquiries compared to last year and exceeding those in 2019. Between Easter and September there were more than 31,000 requests for information, 25% more than last year and 9% more than before the pandemic. French tourists made the most enquiries, followed by the Catalan and Spanish public. Beyond the clear recovery of tourism, the figures also show how foreign tourism has returned to the destination after the two-year slowdown caused by restrictions caused by Covid-19. This trend has also been noted at the Torroella de Montgrí Information Point with more than 5,700 enquiries during the high tourist season, with a predominance of local tourism.

The occupancy figures in tourist establishments also show a clear recovery and return to pre-pandemic levels. Hotels had an average occupancy of 69% and 88% in July and August respectively, close to the 74% and 83% they had in 2019 and increasing compared to the 64% and 77% they had last year. The rest of the months of the season, June, September and October, the dynamics are similar. Camping sites have also regained momentum. This sector, more dependent on foreign tourism, felt the restrictions of the pandemic very strongly, but this 2022 has shown clear symptoms of recovery. Thus, in July the campsites in the municipality had an average occupancy of 61% and in August 70%. In 2019 it was 58 and 73% respectively and last year 40 and 62%. Rental agencies have also had a similar behavior with an average occupancy of 87% in July and 89% in August, which contrasts with the 74% and 90% they had in 2019 and the 68% and 83% they had last year.

The tourist destination is promoted on networks, media and fairs

In the area of ​​promoting the Destination, this year campaigns have been carried out on TV3 , RAC1 , media outlets specializing in Tourism such as Petit Futé or sectoral ones such as Descobrir Catalunya or UT Empordà Guia among others. This promotion has been carried out with both advertisements and banners as well as with promoted content. Campaigns have also been carried out through Google Ads and Facebook Ads and a raffle on Instagram.

In addition, the Tourism Area has delivered 3,700 promotional brochures to companies and tourist entities in the municipality, has published more than 20,000 units of promotional material and has participated in Fairs such as Navatur in Pamplona , ​​the Barcelona Getaway Market or B-Travel. Regarding Social Networks, the Tourism Area has more than 2,100 followers on Twitter , more than 7,100 on Instagram , around 8,500 on Facebook and just over 100 on TikTok , with increases on all networks compared to 2019. The loyalty of users of the Visit Estartit website is also consolidated with longer session duration, more pages consulted per session and a lower bounce rate compared to the previous year.

Platges presents the main figures and news of the season

The Beaches Area has presented the main new services such as the incorporation of a Segway and three civic agents, improvements in cleaning and environmental and accessibility infrastructure. It has also taken stock of the surveillance service with 267 assistance, 1,015 incidents and 53 rescues and almost 100 uses of amphibious chairs and amphibious crutches. The Mini Beach Club had a total of 311 users in July and August.

The Sustainability Plan is entering its third year.

Finally, the minutes and results of the Tourism Sustainability Plan have been made, which until 2023 develops thirty projects and actions with a budget of 3.6 million euros, and which has been transforming the management, urban planning and promotion of Torroella de Montgrí and l’Estartit. The event, which was attended by around 25 people, was opened by the Councillor for Tourism Dúnia Oliveras and closed by the Mayor Jordi Colomí . Before the mayor spoke, the Councillor for Cleaning and Beaches Marc Calvet asked that businesses use door-to-door to avoid collapsing the containers, in response to an intervention on the cleaning that has been carried out by the public. For his part, the Mayor Jordi Colomí explained that people who come to Torroella de Montgrí „want to repeat and relive the experience“ that the destination offers. The mayor has been optimistic about the future, assuring that „the municipality has potential that other municipalities do not have“ and that there is „a lot of work to do“ and challenges to address, such as climate change, but that he believes that as a municipality Torroella de Montgrí and l’Estartit have „a splendid future.

–> TOURIST SEASON 2022 BALANCE SHEET (PDF)