Andalucia bestows its charms on agents

Visit Andalucia hosted an agent appreciation night at Casa Loma in Toronto, celebrating Canadian travel agent partners and introducing them to suppliers in a venue displaying uniquely European character and Spanish roots.

On this occasion, Visit Andalucia provided an hour of interactive agent and supplier networking before serving a delicious four-course dinner and finishing the evening with some traditional Flamenco dancing to an enchanting Spanish guitar.

Andalucia, a southern Spanish region, includes famous cities such as Malaga, Seville and Granada. The Canadian and U.S markets continue to be Visit Andalucia’s priority market.

“We do a lot of FAMs out of Toronto,” said Antonio Martin-Machuca Ales, chief international marketing officer for Visit Andalucia. “A great deal of our tourists come to Andalucia from all across Canada. They travel to Spain for 10-15 days and visit many different cities and take in many different sights. We have such spectacular culture, fantastic sightseeing and delicious gastronomy, and Canadians really appreciate that.”

Andalucia has very mild winters making it an ideal destination all year round.

“The beginning of March to the middle of July is a perfect time for Canadians to visit Andalucia,” continued Martin-Machuca Ales. “July and August are hot and draw a lot of domestic Spanish crowds. September to November is quieter and also very nice.”

Aside from the beautiful weather, Andalucia also hosts many spectacular cultural celebrations. For example, Holy Week takes place in April with a breath-taking Easter parade. Andalucia is world renowned for their bullfights and is also home to the Picasso, Pompidou and Russian museums. Seville also hosts the annual Seville Marathon every November, which attracts runners and fans from all over the globe.

If the museums, wine and tapas aren’t enough to entice clients, it is worth noting that Andalucia is a player on the silver screen. Andalucia was the set of many blockbuster films including Lawrence of Arabia, Die Another Day and Doctor Zhivago, while actor Antonio Banderas also calls Andalucia home. The region also boasts 1,000 miles of beautiful coastline, has the largest European desert, six months of snow capped mountains and 28,000 hours of sunshine a year.

A great deal of visitors to Andalucia are baby boomers that have the time and money to spend on longer trips abroad. Together with many tour operators in both the private and public sector, agents are finding it easier to book excursions than ever before. Andalucia has two international airports and four national airports for easy access. During the summer months, Air Transat flies directly from Toronto to Malaga every week. Year round, Air Transat flies directly from Montreal to Malaga, also on a weekly basis. If clients are happy to connect flights, they can fly Air France and connect in Paris or connect in London with Air Canada or British Airways.

“We love to work with the Canadian agents,” explained Laura Pena Alberdi, director of the Tourist Office of Spain in Toronto. “We offer such unique experiences in Andalucia and we are so proud of our culture. We want to continue our collaboration with agents to bring these amazing experiences to their clients. Whether we connect them with domestic or Canadian tour operators, we want to help our agent partners to grow their business.”