Catalonia – the winning choice | Meetings & Incentive Travel

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Sports events are big business whether that’s corporate hospitality at star-studded occasions, sports industry conventions and congresses or including the benefits and excitement of getting outdoors and working as a team during a meeting or incentive. Catalonia’s ravishing scenery and spectacular sporting venues might just make it a winning destination

Catalonia is home to the greatest concentration of sports businesses in Europe. This region’s vibrant sporting industry, 100 years in the making, took a giant leap forward when the Olympic Games turned Barcelona into the world capital of sport in 1992. And that flame is burning brighter than ever.

Boasting an excellent infrastructure, Catalonia offers a wide array of hotels with fabulous sports facilities, international competitions with sophisticated hospitality, meeting venues in sports facilities and a portfolio of unique products and services for professional events associated with the sports industry as well as incentives and meetings looking to include sport in their programmes.

Photo Credit: RCDE Stadium

Catalonia’s sports ecosystem is one of the most robust and vibrant in Europe thanks to its internationally renowned facilities including the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Montjuïc Olympic Ring and the Sant Cugat High Performance Centre. Barcelona, Catalonia’s capital, continues to be one of the world’s most popular cities for business events as well as visitors and is home to Spotify Camp Nou, the RCD Espanyol Stadium, the Olympic Stadium, Palau Sant Jordi and the Port Olímpic. Barcelona plays host to major congresses and important professional gatherings including SPORTBiz Europe, Sports Tomorrow Congress and Sports World Congress.

Sport and entrepreneurship have always been hugely important in the region and it now boasts more than 9,000 sports clubs and 4,000 sports services businesses. Its success in the world of sport also means that prominent Catalan sportspeople are happy to speak and present at events, drawing on their experiences to highlight the importance of teamwork, resilience, commitment and hard work.

Home to numerous flagship technology and research centres, universities, start-ups and hubs closely tied to sport, there is a robust public-private sport innovation ecosystem. The region is increasingly attracting new sport tech business initiatives and projects making it one of the foremost ideas and entrepreneurship laboratories in the sport tech industry in Europe.

Natural assets

Photo Credit: Kayaks at Mont-Rebei

The unique geography of the region includes mountains towering to over 3,000m in the Pyrenees as well as a 580-km-long Mediterranean seaboard. So it’s no surprise that it excels in water sports, motor sports, snow sports, adventure sports - you name it and you’ll find it here. With 700 skiable kms - 10 Alpine ski resorts and six Nordic ski resorts - and more than 1,000 kms of marked trails, the Catalan Pyrenees are ideal for a range of event experiences in the high mountains.

There is extensive sports infrastructure on the water, too, from marinas to water sports resorts and high-level sports competitions such as the Christmas Race in Palamós and the Conde de Godó Sailing Trophy in Barcelona. Last year it played host to the America’s Cup.

Combine this spectacular scenery with a warm climate, and it provides the ideal setting for a huge variety of outdoor sports and experiences for meeting and incentive participants from rafting, canyoning, canoeing and kayaking (whitewater and open water), golf, mountain bike circuits, hiking, Segway routes and orienteering. The average annual temperature is 18-23ºC and there are more than 300 sunny days a year.

The Mediterranean diet and way of life is increasingly envied around the globe and its benefits sought by visitors. The local produce and healthy, delicious cuisine are now well-documented as important for wellbeing and there’s nowhere better to enjoy it than in the glorious surroundings of this region under its blue skies. It is easy to add wellness to any event programme to enhance the physical and mental health of participants.

Major sporting events

Photo Credit: Circuit Barcelona-Catalunya

Coupling a corporate event with an elite sporting occasion can capitalise on the prestige, excitement and large audience, offering hosts an opportunity to raise their profile, enhance their brand image and build meaningful connections while raising attendance. An incentive trip incorporating a big ticket event can unlock new business opportunities, strategic partnerships and relationships with industry leaders. Options in Catalonia include a Champions League game at Spotify Camp Nou, the Open Sabadell tennis tournament, the MotoGP and Formula 1 Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, soaking up the atmosphere of the Euroleague and ACB Basketball league or following a stage of the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya.

Sports industry congresses in Barcelona

Padel World Summit May 25

Sports World Congress Feb 25

Sports Tomorrow Congress Mar 25

Sportbiz Europe Oct 25

Fostering friendship at the UN

Last October, Lloret de Mar hosted the international UN Inter-Agency Games 2024, involving more than 1,600 UN staff members from 120 countries. Bringing together participants from different UN agencies since 1968, its aim is to foster friendship, cohesion, friendly competition and teamwork. During the event, participants took part in a range of sporting events at facilities in and around the city including athletics, football, basketball, handball, tennis, paddle tennis and swimming.

During their stay, the participants were also able to enjoy the cultural heritage of the city including Santa Clotilde Gardens and Lloret Castle, as well as the nearby city of Girona.

“Lloret de Mar has a recognised track record in both the MICE segment and sports tourism,” says Elizabeth Keegan, manager of Lloret Turisme. “With the great strengths of proximity and centrality between facilities, we offer a very attractive value proposition for this type of event.” Lloret Turisme provided logistical support and co-ordination for the event together with other supra-municipal authorities in the area including the Costa Brava Girona Tourist Board, a partner of the event.

Lawyers meet to compete

Mundiavocat is an international football tournament open to lawyers worldwide. Created in 1983, it involves more than 100 teams from around the globe. In May 2018 it took place in Cambrils-Salou on the Costa Daurada. Said Vincent Pinatel, a lawyer in Marseille and founder of the Mundiavocat: “Participants will find everything they need for a great time in Catalonia: quality sports and hotel infrastructure, beaches, bars, restaurants and activities day and night.”

Promoting inclusion in sport

Highly regarded resort and event venue PortAventura World played host to a fun day of coexistence, inclusion and celebration of diversity before the start of the LaLiga Genuine tournament in 2023. The football competition is organised by the LaLiga Foundation and 46 teams participate to promote the integration of people with disabilities in the world of sport. That year’s season started in Salou, with Nàstic de Tarragona as the host club.

The PortAventura Foundation and the LaLiga Foundation also held a conference entitled ‘Leisure and sport as tools for the inclusion of groups with functional diversity’, which took place at the resort’s convention centre.

“Here at PortAventura World, we firmly believe that leisure and sport are powerful platforms to promote inclusion and celebrate diversity in our society,” said David García, managing director of PortAventura World. “We want everyone to always feel welcome here and for PortAventura World to be a place where they can celebrate their triumphs and share special moments.”