They are looking for authentic and exclusive experiences that allow them to get to know the territory they are visiting better and pay for them at their leisure. Without complaining, as long as the service meets the high demand. Therefore, it is not surprising that they delight in tasting some anchovies from l’Escala, a good bread with tomato or a typical fishermen’s stew on board a wooden boat, that they enjoy more than ever walking along the promenade of the Costa Brava or doing a wine tasting with live music in the incomparable setting of a church.
They are the other American tourists. Those who, apart from visiting Barcelona and its main attractions, such as the Sagrada Família, Park Güell and Passeig de Gràcia, spend a few days getting to know secondary destinations, such as Montserrat, Sitges, the Penedès wineries or the Costa Brava. Most of them stop first in the capital of Catalonia, but there are also some who just set foot at El Prat airport to catch a transfer that will take them to some lost town in the Empordà. Houses with all kinds of luxuries: private chefs, babysitters, yoga classes or private wine tastings.
In the province of Girona, tourists from the United States and Canada have increased by 48% since before the pandemic and overnight stays have reached a record number in the last year, with nearly 400,000. A growth that the Generalitat attributes to different factors. First, to the recovery of American visitors since the pandemic. Those who arrived in Catalonia between January and September 2023 were about 1.2 million, 41% more than the same period of the previous year. They also spend more days getting to know the destination, more than five nights.
The growth is also due to a generational change in the profile of the American visitor: more and more customers are young and eager to explore beyond the big cities and big icons. “They are more interested in secondary destinations that were previously off the radar; now maybe they include fewer cities on the trip to be able to get to know a specific area in more depth”, explains Cristina Gargallo, director of the tourism promotion center for Catalonia in the United States. In addition, the demarcation of Girona has two claims that have long since placed it on the international map: cycling tourism and gastronomy.
In general, it is a customer with high purchasing power. A few days ago, Sebastià Morató, of the real estate company specializing in the rental of high-end properties Corredor Mató, said goodbye to a marriage and his four children in Nashville (Tennessee) after staying for ten days, including Christmas, in a farmhouse in Vulpellac. Morató notes the remarkable growth of customers of this nationality. “In recent years we have gone from not having this market to becoming the fifth most important here, after French, English, Spanish/Catalan and Dutch, to surpassing Belgian, Swiss, German and the Nordic”, says Morató, who puts the increase experienced by Americans at 322% since 2018. The volume of reservations has tripled since then. To stay in these villas, they pay between 10,000 and 25,000 euros per week, depending on the season.
However, most stay in four- and five-star hotels or boutique hotels. “These are customers who are looking for maximum comfort in the accommodation and who are so happy to pay 500 euros per person to live memorable experiences, such as making ceramics in a workshop in the Bisbal d’Empordà or eating anchovies, whip and donuts in a shack of fishermen”, explains Sandra Perich, technician of the Premium Club of the Girona-Costa Brava Tourism Board.
Many companies have set their sights on this group, which spends much more than the rest (on average, around 279 euros per day, higher than the 188 of other foreigners) and which shows a great interest in learning about culture, the gastronomy and the natural environment of the destination through high-end tourist services.
The company La Gastronòmica, based in Baix Empordà, is one of these businesses that, since it was born, has had one of the main customers in the American community. A pairing with violin and cello, a poetry recital and wine tasting in the Iberian town of Castell or a culinary demonstration on board a boat cruising the Costa Brava are some of the many proposals it offers. “These are very personalized activities that seek authenticity, and here we show them the reality, not necessarily what appears in the guides; for example, if we do a cheese tasting, we emphasize who is behind the product, the place where it comes from; they like to enjoy the more rural part”, says the sommelier Clara Antúnez, who emphasizes that they are fed by more and more tourists visiting Barcelona. “They are very demanding and they really want to know new authentic experiences away from marketing”, he explains about a client who helps a lot to deseasonalize tourism. They prefer to visit the destination in autumn and spring, rather than summer.
At The Real Thing, a travel agency in Barcelona that organizes tailor-made experiences in Spain and Portugal and whose number one customer is the North American, they say they have recovered the clientele they had before the pandemic. “When they were able to travel again, they arrived en masse”, says Glòria Pou, one of the company’s partners, who notes that rarely do those who spend five or six nights in Barcelona not end up sleeping at least one in Girona “It costs very little to convince them”, he says. Companies dedicated to this profile confirm that, apart from couples, companies, groups of friends or parents and children, there are more and more families made up of more than one generation (grandparents, children and grandchildren) who enjoy the journey. Among the destinations in the province that they visit are corners of the Costa Brava and Empordanet, Girona, the Dalinian triangle or wineries in the area. “They don’t come for the sun and the beach, but for the most sophisticated experiences that allow them to get to know the lifestyle of the territory,” says Gargallo.
Beyond this profile that has a perfect hook in Barcelona, ??Girona has long benefited from bicycle tourism. A walk through the city center allows you to observe the large number of businesses that have opened in recent years linked to the pedal. In 2022 there were thirty. Since Lance Armstrong, who lived in Girona between 2001 and 2005, put it on the map, the growth has been spectacular. The American tour operator Trek Travel, which has its European travel logistics center in Girona, has expanded its portfolio of American clients by 10% in the last year. The sales manager, Silvia Brinatti, explains that the age group has decreased. “If before it was between 50 and 70 years old, now we have customers in their 30s and we have expanded the portfolio thanks to electric bikes”, he explains. Upper middle class, couples, friends and groups are the majority profile and the average stay on the routes is between six and ten days. A tourism still with a lot of room for growth.
