What is COCOA H2H Travel Market Ibero-America

I spent three days in Lloret de Mar, a beautiful touristy town where the Costa Brava begins and just 45 minutes away from my home town Mataró.
I went there to attend the launch of a new Leisure & MICE Event: COCOA H2H Travel Market Ibero-America organised to bring together a hand-picked group of tour operators and travel agencies specialized in Ibero-America with suppliers from Spain, Portugal, North and South America in an unique, creative environment, COCOA H2H Travel Market Ibero-America provides effective forums to develop business and connections in a series of expertly matched one-to-one meetings over 2 days.
The next edition will take place in Torremolinos by Málaga, in the Costa del Sol from 28th to 31st of October 2024.

The concept  

COCOA H2H Travel Market Ibero-America interacts with the beautiful host regions in unique ways, through groundbreaking venues and meetings, truly impactful legacy programmes and remarkable fam trips. The education programme will focus on the critical relationship between climate change and the travel industry, giving all participants insight and tools to cope with a changing world.
The events utilise cutting edge meeting design (provided by globally recognized consultants MindMeeting) to ensure that the interactions between buyers and suppliers are more productive and memorable than ever before.
Social responsability and sustainability play a key role in this event.

Where

Lloret de Mar is the start of the magnificent Costa Brava and represents where Spanish tourism was born. Beaches are just out of this world, and Lloret offer breathtaking beaches like Sa Boadella:
And all is ready to receive all kind of tourists. Lloret de Mar is specialised in family tourism, sports tourism and lots of MICE. The event took place in a hotel which is actually 4 hotels: Evenia olympic Resort. The 4 hotels have different categories but share the conference rooms and banqueting area, 
and also they share the public areas like the pools and gardens.
And by the way, there is a truly magnificent spa and gym, with a huge interior pool, the wet facilities are great to relax. I enjoyed a superb treatment for the body and a facial with Bulgarian Rose by Aroms Natur:
 

The meetings

I had the chance to meet all exhibitors in several one-to-one meetings. Those took place in the conference rooms of Olympic Congress Center. The main one where we held the launch every morning and where the tables of the one-to-one meetings were located:
But also we met in different places like on a towel in Sa Boadella Beach, what a brilliant idea!

One to One meetings

We are all used to having meetings at a table and we chat about our interests and proposals. But the proposal of COCOA H2H Travel Market Ibero-America is to meet in different locations within the hotels or the city, so that we have fun together and create bonds.
I played pingpong:

We painted containers that were reconverted into houses for cats, so the event also has a social responsibility, returning back to the society as much as possible:
We also shared some sun salutations in the main pool area:
And we learned about Daiquiris and the importance of local historic entrepreneurs like Narcís Sala Parera who was born in Lloret in 1879 and who emigrated to Cuba and owned the bodega Floridita where daiquiri was made famous:

Side Events in Lloret 

Lloret de Mar offers lots of proposals for organisers highlighting the local history and the natural beauty.
In the main theatre we watched the film «La piel quemada» from 1967 featuring Lloret in its early tourism stages, where the tourism industry did not exist and the Spanish immigration played a role in building the city as we know it today. Really interesting:
We also went to Santa Clotilde Gardens to have a group meeting in a unique environment. These are truly amazing gardens, where films and ads have been filmed, and where people can enjoy the moments of peace around them.

We did several activities like learning about history, we made sketches, we took Nordic walking tours. We also did a tour about the movies and ads filmed here… so plenty of things to interact with other participants and creating bonds.

And to finalise we had dinner in the most mythical traditional restaurant in Lloret: La Campana. If you visit the city, you have to enjoy an evening here and try their simple roasted chicken, croquetas, etc. Just simple and superb.

This innovative format will maximise ROI with interactive, effective, and natural meetings which will be a blend of human and corporate interactions, with participants coming away with shared knowledge and creativity, sustainable and productive shared business goals, and deep relationships. This is the group foto in Sa Boadella beach:

COCOA H2H Travel Market Ibero-America are business events with heart and soul.