Новости

Once again, Calella has been present at the Salon des Vacances, held in Brussels from 7 to 10 February at the "Brussels Expo" exhibition center. The Salon des Vacances is the most relevant generic fair in the tourism sector in Belgium, fully aimed at the final consumer with an average attendance of 100,000 visitors in each edition. The event brings together some of the most important tour operators and agencies in the country, becoming the ideal showcase to promote our destination for the holidays this year.

Unlike other fairs, on this occasion Calella has participated with its own counter inside the Turespaña stand. The assistance to the Salon des Vacances is part of the strategy of tourism promotion of the city in the different issuing markets, in this case the Belgian market and with special emphasis on the promotion of sports tourism, active and family tourism.

Data from the Belgian market

According to WES survey data (West Vlaams Economisch Studie Bureau), Spain is the third destination of Belgian tourists traveling abroad with 11.2% market share, after France (28.3%) and The Netherlands (13.3%).

Catalonia ranks second as the preferred destination for Belgian tourists who travel to Spain, after Andalusia. According to data from the Catalan Tourism Agency, in 2017 Catalonia received 446,400 residents in Belgium, 18% of the total of those who travelled to Spain. The average stay is 6-7 days and the preferred accommodation is the hotel (56%), followed by other formulas for renting apartments and houses and, to a lesser extent, stays at campsites; the average cost is 900 euros per person, one of the highest among the European source markets.

As for Calella, the Belgian market has remained fairly stable (around 2.5% of the total number of overnight stays) during the last years, with a total of 40,576 overnight stays between the months of May and October 2018.

In relation to the main reasons for choosing a destination for holidays, according to data from the Catalan Tourism Agency, the Belgian tourist prioritizes the beauty of the landscape and sunny weather, but also appreciates cultural visits and enjoy with the gastronomy local and with the practice of activities such as hiking or cycling. In this sense, if we analyse the data of visits to the website calellabarcelona.com from Belgium, we can see an interest in the contents related to culture (Things to do), the municipal market, shopping, water activities, how to get there and the Lighthouse of Calella. Although visits from Belgium on the web only represent 1.4% of total visits, they have grown by 76.7% during 2018, compared to the previous year.