Tourism demand grows in a March driven by professional events and the start of Easter

Tourism activity monitoring data for Destination Barcelona during March 2026 show a positive trend in terms of demand, especially domestic tourism. It should be noted that during this month, major professional events were held, such as the Mobile World Congress 2026, while the beginning of Easter also took place. Both events have had an impact on tourism activity data in both Barcelona city and Barcelona region.

In Barcelona city, the supply of accommodation in hotels and guesthouses stood at 660 establishments and around 87,600 beds, at a similar level to March 2025. Taking into account hotels, guesthouses, and homes for tourist use, tourism demand grew by 2.5% in terms of tourists and by 2.8% in overnight stays. Occupancy also increased, with hotel establishments reaching 64.4% occupancy in bedplaces (+1.4 pp YoY) and homes for tourist use, 61.1% (+1.2 pp YoY).

Passenger traffic in mobility infrastructures also increased. Barcelona Airport reached 4.6 million passengers (+5.4% YoY), while the port stood out for the strong growth in cruise passengers, both year-on-year (+48.11%) and month-on-month (+97.1%), due to the seasonality of its activity.

By contrast, visitors to ICUB cultural facilities decreased slightly by 1.5% year-on-year. Visitors residing in the rest of Spain doubled compared to the previous year, which offset the reduction in other visitor groups.

The average age of tourists in the city of Barcelona increased to 39.5 years (in previous months it had been around 35 years). In March, the most common travel mode was solo travel (34.9%) and for professional purposes (50.18%). International tourists, who remained relatively stable in absolute numbers, accounted for 77.3% of the total in hotel establishments, while residents in Spain, with a 20.7% share, increased by 10.8% year-on-year.

Although average spending increased compared to the previous month (+21.5%), tourists spent on average 14.1% less than the previous year, €128.2 per person per day. Spending on food and beverages remained the main expense category.

In Barcelona region, the supply of accommodation in hotels, guesthouses, campsites, and rural tourism exceeded 1,000 establishments and 88,000 beds. Notably, there was a significant reopening of campsites, meaning a month-on-month increase of 59.2% in places.

Regarding tourism demand, the region also registered year-on-year increseases, 21.9% in tourists and 7.7% in overnight stays. Campsites recorded the longest stays (an average of 2.7 nights), while hotel establishments registered the highest occupancy rates (48.9%).

Tourists in the region showed an older profile (average age of 44.7 years) and were more domestic (48.4%) compared to those in Barcelona city. It is worth noting that both Spanish residents and international tourists increased year-on-year in this geographical area (+21.3% and +21.8%, respectively). Additionally, the main reason for travel in this case was leisure (6 out of 10 tourists), and half traveled as a couple.

Spending during the stay was slightly above €50 per day, representing a year-on-year increase of 7.0%.

Based on quarterly closing data, the Barcelona city received a total of 3.3 million tourists during the first three months of the year. Combined with the 1.7 million visitors to Barcelona region, this brought the total number of tourists in the Destination Barcelona to 5.0 million. These figures, together with spending on accommodation and expenditure during the stay, have made it possible to estimate the economic impact of direct tourism spending at a total of €2.678 billion across the Destination. This impact is distributed as €2.185 billion in Barcelona city and €493 million in Barcelona region. Regarding the evolution of these figures, it should be noted that the number of tourists has increased both in the city of Barcelona (+5.2% Var. 26/25) and in Barcelona region (+7.9% Var. 26/25). In both cases, the economic impact has grown significantly compared to 2025, with year-on-year changes of +8.2% in the first case and +10.4% in the second. These calculations include data from paid tourist accommodation in the destination as well as other types of accommodation without economic transactions, such as stays in the homes of friends and relatives.

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¹ For more information on the profile and habits of tourists during March in Destination Barcelona, please click on the following link.

More information:

Summary of tourism activity in Destination Barcelona – March 2025

Tourism activity in Destination Barcelona interactive report