MICE tourism is related to business or academic affairs, such as congresses, seminars and similar events. According to certain calculations, about 20% of tourists worldwide travel for business. Therefore, the tourism industry attaches increasingly more importance to corporate events. In Spain this type of tourism stands for 6% of the total, and it generates about 6000 million euros a year.
Spain, the ideal country to organise events
There are different aspects of Spain that make it the perfect place to organise events related to MICE tourism. Hereinafter, we analyse some of the advantages of Spain to attract corporate event tourism:
An exceptional climate
The majority of Spain enjoys a Mediterranean climate, with a lot of hours of sunshine throughout the year, about 3000 hours. The average temperature of the
Iberian Peninsula is between 15 ºC and 18 ºC, and this figure rises to 23 ºC in the Canary Islands. The pleasant climate and the abundance of sunny days in places such as the Costa Blanca, which has big MICE hotels like the Grand Luxor Hotel & Village, attract tourists from all over the world, especially those coming from countries with colder climates.
Leading country in tourism
The World Tourism Organization ranks Spain as the second country in the world with the highest number of foreign visitors, only behind France ( information from 2019, pre-pandemic ). This translates into two fundamental ideas.
The first of these is that if Spain is one of the most visited countries in the world, it is because a large number of travellers from all over the world have been able to experience the quality of the tourist offer, not only regarding services but also locations and leisure options. This implies repetition and recommendation.
It is also true that this inflow provides our country with unique experience concerning the amount of foreign visitors which grows on a monthly basis and allows us to offer impeccable service which is constantly evolving.
Hotel capacity
Spain has not stopped increasing its hotel capacity since the beginning of the last century. The hotel accommodation doubled between 1990 and 2016, reaching the third position among European countries, just behind France and Italy.
Furthermore, Spanish hotels are becoming increasingly better prepared to hold corporate events. Venues like the Grand Luxor Hotel & Village have all the facilities necessary to host any type of corporate event with success totally guaranteed.
History, art and culture
Spain is the third country in the world with the most cultural heritage. A total of 15 Spanish cities have been declared World Heritage Sites since 1982. Among them, cities that are home to extraordinary and extremely important monuments from an artistic point of view, such as for example, the Great Mosque of Cordoba, the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela or the University of Salamanca.
Moreover, Spain has countless festivals that attract a great number of tourists every year, because they are so unique. Some of the most iconic are Las Fallas of Valencia, the Seville Fair and the Mystery Play of Elche.
Diversity of cultures and scenery
The historical richness of Spain´s culture over the centuries has produced a multicultural territory fed upon by the principal civilizations which came to the Iberian peninsula in the past: Iberians, Celts, Romans, Visigoths, Arabs, together with an important Christian tradition… all of them have left their mark, making our country a place of unique diversity.
The influence of Arab culture contrasts in Andalucia with the architecture and tradition in Castille, Leon or Asturias. From the arid desert climate of Almería, we pass to the green fields of the Cantabrian coast and the Basque Country. An amalgam of climates and cultures concentrated in one country where only 1,000 kilometers separate the two most distant points of the peninsula.
Moreover, the offer is completed by two island communities, the Balearics and the Canary islands. The latter having a constant temperature of around 22º all year round.
Good food and an exceptional lifestyle
The gastronomy is another distinguishing feature of Spain. Our country has more than 200 Michelin starred restaurants and numerous world-renowned chefs, such as Juan María Arzak, Ferrán Adrià and the Roca brothers. There are certain customs that are very appealing to foreign tourists, such as going out for tapas (appetizers). Spanish gastronomy is the standard-bearer of Mediterranean cuisine, which has been declared to be Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO.
In view of all the aforementioned determining factors, our country has one of the world’s highest life expectancies, which in the case of women is 85 years’ old on average. What is more, the OECD has ranked Spain among the first 20 countries in the world with the best quality of life.
Infrastructures
Spain possesses 50 airports in all of the national territory. Of these, 13 have international connections and Madrid and Barcelona are in the top 5 or 6 of the airports with most traffic in Europe.
We must add to this a total of 3,150 kilometers of high speed rail lines which link the principal capitals of the provinces. There is also a modern motorway network covering all of the national territory which connects not only the large cities but also the smaller ones which nevertheless concentrate a large number of tourists, as in the case of Benidorm or Marbella among others.
Specific venues for events
As for venues, there is a large number of Conference Centres and Convention Centres located all over Spain, such as the Luxor Convention Centre at Grand Luxor Hotel & Village (the biggest of the Costa Blanca), where all kinds of events can be held.
In short, all these factors make Spain the perfect country to attract MICE tourism.