2020, Sports Tourism Year

The Catalan Tourist Board has declared 2020 to be Sports Tourism Year to coincide with the Olympic Games in Tokyo, with the aim of placing the focus on the Pyrenees-Barcelona candidature for the 2030 Winter Olympics. This thematic year is regarded as an opportunity to position Catalonia as a leading destination for sports tourism around the world. The quality of the tourist attractions and its excellent sports facilities, coupled with its climate and natural features, make Catalonia an ideal destination for different sports. Thus, this sporting theme will continue the sequence of themes selected for each year throughout the last six years: Cultural Tourism Year (2018-2019), Sustainable Tourism Year (2017), Gastronomy Year (2016), Inland and Mountain Tourism Year (2015) and Family Tourism Year (2014). Aim: The challenge of Sports Tourism Year is to extend the promotional initiatives of the sports tourism brand of the Catalan Tourist Board, whose aims are:

To position Catalonia as an international sporting destination.
To promote sport as a distinctive value of the brand Catalonia.
To highlight the values of sport, including equality, inclusion, accessibility, innovation and healthy lifestyle habits.
To increase the revenue per tourist by offering products with greater added value.
To promote destinations, companies and sporting facilities among the priority outbound tourism markets.
To support Catalan sports companies and destinations in the creation of sports tourism products that contribute to de-seasonalising what Catalan has to offer tourists and visitors.
To contribute to marketing and attracting training camps and sporting events.
To maximize the synergies between the sports sector and tourism so as to capitalise on some of the profits from tourism and reinvest them in the Catalan sports sector.
To promote the sporting disciplines and outbound tourism markets with the greatest potential for de-seasonalisation and to contribute to a greater territorial distribution of tourist activity.

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Featured initiatives: To achieve these goals, throughout 2020 the Catalan Tourist Board will conduct more than 50 promotional and communication-based initiatives aimed at the target audience and professionals from different international markets. Priority markets: France, Germany, Benelux, the United Kingdom and Scandinavia. Strategic markets: North America, China and Japan. The most significant events of the year will be:

World Sports Tourism Congress: In partnership with the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), a World Sports Tourism Congress was hold in Lloret de Mar on 25 and 26 November 2021. This congress was became the essential meeting point for the international sports tourism industry and provided an opportunity to reflect on and discuss the situation within the sector and its needs for action.

Check the legacy of the World Sports Tourism Congress 2021:

Conclusions in English

Conclusions in Catalan

Initiatives with influencers:

International Sports Convention: Participation in this biennial event specialising in the sporting world on 17 and 18 June in London.
Catalonia Sports:In partnership with the Tourist Boards of Catalonia, a familiarisation trip will be organise for operators specialising in sports tourism, federations, leagues and sports clubs from the different priority countries. The influencers and opinion leaders will be able to take part in a journey of discovery around the region and meet representatives of the specialised Catalan sector during a workshop.
Direct B2B initiative:Throughout the year there will be business trips provided to tour operators specialising in sports tourism and sports federations in order to establish business contacts and to publicise the sports on offer in our destination so as to attract training camps.

Women’s sport initiatives: Communication initiatives will be held with the Massi-Tactic Women Team, the only women’s team in Catalonia in the UCI category, the highest world road cycling category, using specialised resources. Inclusive sporting initiatives: A trip will be held to La Molina with French adaptive skiing influencers to promote inclusive tourism, together with communication initiatives in several media to publicise the specialise companies that provide inclusive sporting activities. Participation in high-profile international sporting events: Among others, the Vansbrosimningen (swimming in open water in Sweden), the Prudential (cycling in the United Kingdom) and the British Swimming (swimming in the United Kingdom) events. Knowledge and market intelligence initiatives:

International market seminars focusing on sports tourism: Organisation of a training seminar for the Catalan sector, to be attended by several international influencers, who will explain the functioning of markets such as France and the United Kingdom, with a focus on sports tourism (number of members of federations, most popular sports, etc.).
Studies and market intelligence: Throughout 2020, several studies will be conducted on sports tourism, cycle tourism and golf in different markets.
Sports Tourism Benchmark: Organisation of a “benchmark” at a Spanish destination competing with Catalonia, to see how sports tourism is managed there and to draw any conclusions applicable to Catalonia.

All the above initiatives seek to help Catalan sports companies and destinations to create sports tourism products that can help to de-seasonalise Catalan tourism and promote a greater territorial distribution of tourist activity. It is also intended to promote the marketing of training camps and sporting events. Advertising campaign To promote Sports Tourism Year in 2020, the Catalan Tourist Board has prepared a special advertising campaign featuring Ona Carbonell, the Catalan synchronised swimming medallist, and international influencers from the world of sport and lifestyle in Germany, Holland, France and the United Kingdom. The aim of the campaign is to project Catalonia by means of sporting values such as equality, inclusion, accessibility, innovation and healthy lifestyle habits. It is an innovative, micro-segmented and digital campaign with personalised contents. If you wish to publicise the Sports Tourism Year initiatives on social media you can use the #AnyTurismeEsportiu20 hashtag. Dossier You can download it here: