In this period of resumption of MICE activitythe Catalonia is Spain's most popular province for organising business events. With Barcelona as a standard-bearer, the destination is making the most of its assets, including its Mediterranean coastline and the natural spaces of its hinterland, its Catalan culture and tasty cuisine, its original activities and its accessibility by air and sea. now in TGV since Paris. " The 2019 levels have been recovered or even exceeded for congresses and conventions thanks to the resumption of European and international flights. And thanks to the renovation and opening of new hotels.says a delighted Nuria Munoz from the Barcelona Turisme Convention Bureau. France is our No. 1 international market ahead of Great Britain and North America" .
The year 2023 should also benefit from celebrations surrounding the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Picasso with exhibitions programmed in the Picasso and Miro museums in Barcelona, a tour of the Catalan city in the footsteps of the master of Cubism, but also in three Catalan villages that he painted: Cadaquès, where he met Dali, and Gosol and Horta de San Juan in the Pyrenees mountains.
Barcelona, a capital where it's good to get some height
Inaugurated just after Covid, Barcelona is full of new event venues and hotels. And especially in the trendy Poblenou district, where the old factories have given way to a new new business and tech district. Open in spring 2022, The Hoxton is home to 240 designer rooms and the Apartment, its concept comprising two rooms (each for 25 people) surrounding a large central foyer, a 100 m² space that can also be used for private cocktails. In the basement, a large 450 m² room that can be divided into 4 can accommodate 90 participants in a school format and up to 200 for dinners. On the 10th floor, part of the rooftop can also be used for private cocktails (up to 70 people), with views over Barcelona and the imposing Torre Glories, which towers 145 metres above the hotel.
The architect's work Jean Nouvel Erected at the intersection of three thoroughfares (Gran Via, Diagonal and Meridiana), the tower's foundations house theHypermiradoran immersive space where the décor changes in real time to the rhythm of life in Barcelona, thanks to sensors scattered around the city. On the 30th floor, its observatory can accommodate 100 people for private parties. More central due to its location near the Place de Catalogne, the Urquiaona tower - built at the end of the 1960s - stands out for the incredible 360° panorama offered by the business centre The 19th Hole which offers a dozen rooms between the 17th and 20th floors, with capacities ranging from 8 to 120 people for meetings, 100 for dinners and 150 for cocktails.
The hotel is just a short walk away Me Barcelona, lone of the latest additions to the Melia group in Spain. With 164 contemporary rooms, this 5* establishment offers 7 modular rooms for up to 150 participants and junior suites for small meetings (12 people). Two restaurants (80 covers for the largest) extending onto a vast terrace (for coffee breaks or cocktail parties for up to 300 people) and a pleasant rooftop for 80 guests complete the MICE offering.
Close to the Olympic port and the beach, the Sofitel Barcelona Skipper has moved into the walls of the former Pullman hotel following major renovation work. Renovation work has enabled this other Accor brand to offer 225 rooms and suites with a modern decor. Its lower level is entirely devoted to conferences and meetings, with a 620 m² room divisible into four (for up to 300 people) and five smaller rooms (for 8 to 70 people) surrounding a foyer used for breaks, meals and cocktails. Unless the customer prefers to book the restaurant dedicated to groups (160 people) or its two outdoor pool areas for 70 and 300 guests respectively.
A Montjuic, l'InterContinental Barcelona was also the subject of a complete makeover. The 273-room IHG hotel has a brand-new conference centre with 19 fully-equipped rooms, with capacities ranging from 10 to 1,000 people in the largest, the 780 m2 Verdi Room. With its 173 Rooftop, the hotel boasts a magnificent terrace with swimming pool offering a 360° view of the Catalan capital.
Close to Barcelona Sants railway station, the Nobu Barcelona is not to be outdone, with the new, resolutely zen décor of its rooftop on the 25th floor. You'll be able to see all the city's iconic monuments. In addition to its 259 Japanese-inspired rooms - which may come as a surprise in Barcelona - the hotel has an auditorium (90 seats), a grand salon (180 people) and a string of meeting rooms (6 to 75 people).
PortAventura plays the attraction near Salou
Catalonia has other nuggets for organising events. One of the most popular is PortAventuraThis is the 2nd largest leisure resort in Europe behind Disneyland Paris, with 3 leisure parks, four 4-star hotels (2,369 rooms) and a 20,000 m² convention centre. Open all year round, unlike the theme parks, this complex houses 24 modular rooms, one of which can seat 2,000 people. " PortAventura will have 260 events in 2022The largest of these is 2,500 people, although we can cater for up to 3,000. And up to 7,000 guests in the evening when a park and its attractions are privatised." explains Clémentine Ballereau, Head of Indirect Sales France.
The site is also benefiting from the opening of the Paris Orly/Reus route operated by the airline Vueling every Wednesday and Sunday. " This new flight will help us to developing the French market which represents 15% of our business, for example, entering Reus and leaving from Barcelona, just 1 hour away" she adds. A stay in Reus is also an opportunity to add a cultural touch by discovering the exuberant buildings erected by Domenech i Montaner, an architect and apostle of modernism (like Antonio Gaudi, who was born in Reus) whose death Catalonia is also celebrating this year.
30 minutes north-east of Barcelona, Châteauform opened its 3rd site in Catalonia with the Belloch Campus located in the village of La Roca del Valès. Set in a 200-hectare verdant estate where motivational activities are carried out, the group provides large teams with a modern training complex comprising 180 rooms, 2 auditoriums, 19 modular rooms (18 to 200 people) and 1 events space.
Girona, a historic capital
Accessible by plane and TGV from France, with several 4-star hotels, Girona is another city not to be overlooked for a corporate event in Catalonia. The capital of the province of the same name is well worth a visit for its historical and tourist attractions, with its medieval town centre, a favourite in a number of films and international TV series, its imposing religious buildings, its unmissable rambla and its colourful houses built on ancient walls overlooking the river Onyar, which is crossed by a bridge designed by Gustave Eiffel. " Girona is an alternative to Barcelona for smaller events looking for cultural aspects as well as activities in the city centre. nature park with some forty volcanoes located to the north of the town" says Veronica Mas of the Patronat de Turisme Costa Brava Girona.
This town of 100,000 inhabitants has a congress centre inaugurated in 2006. Located on the edge of a wooded park where Napoleon's troops were stationed during the siege of 1809, it has three auditoriums (seating 1,200, 350 and 178), 13 meeting rooms (20 to 500 people), foyers and a vast 1,500 m² exhibition hall. The building is also connected to the Girona Trade Fair pavilion, which offers 7,000 m² of exhibition space.
Lloret de Mar in pole position on the Costa Brava
Situated 30 minutes from Girona (1 hour from Barcelona and Perpignan), the seaside resort of Lloret de Mar is the number one MICE destination on the Costa Brava, with 3,000 hotel rooms and establishments that are often open all year round. But above all, its three conference centres whose largest hall can accommodate a thousand delegates. " Every year we provide support to almostaround a hundred events bringing together an average of 400 to 500 people thanks to the presence of large aircraftsays Montse Belisario, Director of the Tourist Office. The city is also popular with professional and amateur sports teams from all over Europe, thanks to the diversity and quality of its sports facilities close to hotels." .
The complex Evenia Hotels brings together no fewer than four establishments with a total of 793 rooms and 18 meeting rooms (for 15 to 800 people). Reopening in 2021 after a complete renovation, theAzure offers 411 4* rooms, two meeting rooms (for 300 and 500 people), 7 sub-commission rooms and a huge rooftop overlooking the city from the top of its 8 floors (200 people for cocktails). More exclusive is the Santa MartaThe 5* hotel with 76 rooms has been a local institution for 60 years. Clinging to the hillside, this hotel, which companies are happy to privatise in its entirety, has three meeting rooms (for 20 to 30 people), two lounges (for 150 people) and a vast pool area opening onto a private beach for cocktails (for up to 800 people).
In fact, thanks to the region's privileged climate, Lloret de Mar has no shortage of places to enjoy outdoors, such as the magnificent public garden of Santa ClotildeA 27-hectare green setting inspired by the Italian Renaissance, overlooking the Mediterranean. Or the hotel Sant Pere del BoscThis 5-star hotel is housed in a former Benedictine monastery perched on a wooded hillside, with large terraces that can accommodate up to 400 guests under the stars.
The Perelada Resort, an all-in-one events complex at the foot of the Pyrenees
20 minutes from Figueras, city of the museum-mausoleum of Salvador Dali (1h30 from Barcelona but 45 mn from Perpignan), the medieval village of Perelada can boast the Peralada Resortboutique-hotel with 64 rooms surrounded by a golf 18 holes. Catalan entrepreneurs Suqué Mateu opened this 5-star hotel 20 years ago, with three meeting rooms (for 25, 40 or 100 people) and a restaurant for groups, decorated in a style inspired by the farmhouses of the Emporda region. Just a stone's throw away, the resort has added the Mirador950 m² of event space (500 to 700 people for meetings/600 people for dinners) and a terrace for cocktails overlooking the wooded park and the family's medieval château, part of which is now home to a museum. star restaurant and a casino. The building adjoins a former Carmelite monastery dating from the Gothic period, which has been converted into a museum devoted to ancient art, the history of wine and that of the luxury car brand Hispano-Suiza which has belonged to them since the 1900s.
But the most astonishing visit is undoubtedly to theincredible winery to be inaugurated in 2022The Suqué Mateu estate is a combination of an old red-brick farmhouse above ground and a concrete cathedral below, housing millions of bottles from the five wine estates run by the Suqué Mateu family. The farm's various restored buildings, with their contemporary extensions, have also been transformed to accommodate private events, with two 14-seat meeting rooms, a 56-seat auditorium, wine-tasting areas and a 42-seat restaurant. Not to mention a vast, pleasant patio overlooking 300 hectares of vines.
