The Torreciudad Board of Trustees has prepared information on visitors and activities in 2024 as a preview of the Annual Report that it publishes annually. Last year, Torreciudad received, in global figures, around 185,000 people. The greatest influx occurred in the months of August (32,300), July (20,500) and March (20,400), a usual trend directly related to the summer holidays and Easter.
Geographical origin
A good number of these visitors are personally assisted at the Torreciudad Tourist Office. In 2024, 15.21% came from 58 nations, while the remaining 84.29% was national tourism. Among the countries of origin, France stands out (28.27% of the total number of foreigners), Portugal (9.26%), the United States (8.20%) and the United Kingdom (5.42%). Regarding Spanish origin, Catalonia has been the main origin of visitors (26.49% of nationals), followed by the Community of Madrid (25.40%), Aragon (10.48%), the Valencian Community (7.07%) and Navarre (6.97%).
Group typology
The profile of visitors who come to Torreciudad for reasons of faith and travel in organized groups has shown clear continuity during 2024 with respect to previous periods: throughout the year they have made pilgrimages to parishes, brotherhoods, religious congregations, Catholic-inspired schools, groups of the faithful, ecclesial movements and other religious communities with various charismas. However, the majority of the public (about 60%) identifies with the “family and friends” typology. These are small groups that organize their trip independently and flexibly, previously gathering information through the Internet and social networks.
Tourism promotion
Tourism promotionThis family audience is also motivated by the range of leisure, cultural, natural and gastronomic resources that are located near Torreciudad. The conversations held with these groups by the staff who assist them upon arrival confirm that they tend to increase their days of stay in the area when they know the variety of tourist attractions within their reach.
In this line of promotion, the Torreciudad Tourist Office distributes, through digital mailings and brochures, various information on cultural routes, restaurants and hotels, natural parks, interpretation centres, wineries, adventure sports, gastronomic itineraries and other resources in the area.
The close collaboration established with the Government of Aragon has also continued during 2024 to attend the counter on religious tourism that Tourism of Aragon includes in the stands with which it carries out promotional tasks at numerous fairs in the sector.
Museographic spaces
Various international tour operators and religious tourism travel agencies already include Torreciudad’s museography as a reference element in the organization of pilgrimages. Visitors can access the “Live the experience of faith” Space, which received 15,414 people during 2024, and the video-mapping “The altarpiece tells you”, available in three versions (Christmas, Easter and the usual one for the rest of the year) and in three languages (Spanish, English and French). These projections have been attended by nearly 21,000 people.
Likewise, the gallery of Marian devotions is open to the public, which last year incorporated 14 new images of the Virgin Mary, in pilgrimages from South Korea, Bulgaria, South Africa, Chile and Spain. Currently, a total of 557 Patrons from 81 countries on five continents can be seen in the gallery.
Digital dissemination
The number of followers on Torreciudad’s social networks has increased by 9.44% compared to 2023, from 86,676 to 94,857. On this occasion, the network that has grown the most in terms of percentage has been Instagram (15.53%, from 18,780 to 21,696), followed by Facebook (12.53%, from 16,746 to 18,845) and YouTube (7.26%, from 41,231 to 44,225 subscribers).
Information about Torreciudad is also disseminated digitally through a monthly email newsletter (12,673 addresses) and the sending of a weekly information message through WhatsApp broadcast lists to 2,689 recipients. As for visitor opinions, reviews posted on Google have increased by 3.74%, and users give Torreciudad an average score of 4.7 out of 5 out of a total of 3,688 reviews posted.
Live broadcasts
Every day, the Torreciudad YouTube channel broadcasts live the celebration of the mass and the prayer of the rosary and the Angelus. In 2024, more than 350,000 views have been recorded from 38 countries, and the videos that help to pray the rosary have exceeded two million views. The requests to the Virgin of Torreciudad, received on the sanctuary’s website, have been 6,852, 48.67% more than during 2023. After the prayer of the Angelus, these requests are read every day before her image.
Projects for 2025
The Annual Meeting of Delegates of the Board of Trustees of Torreciudad will celebrate its 49th edition on March 8 and 9. The planning tasks for 2025 that will take place on those days will focus on the promotion of traditional pilgrimages and days, especially the Marian Day of the Family, and on the preparation of the 50th anniversary of the opening for worship of the new Torreciudad, inaugurated on July 7, 1975. Family pastoral care will also receive a significant boost, especially with the organization of several editions of the courses for married couples “TWOgether Torreciudad”, as well as the spiritual experience of the Jubilee 2025 called by Pope Francis.
