The United States consolidates its position as the leading source market this summer

The Barcelona Tourism Observatory has published the source markets report for the third quarter of 2026. This report includes, for each of the main outbound markets of the Destination — Germany, Spain, the United States, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom — an overview of their air connectivity, online interest, holidays, the status and characteristics of their hotel bookings, and a comparison with other European destinations.

These are the main highlights of the report:

• The United States shows the highest volume of hotel bookings for the upcoming quarter in Barcelona city (28,2% share) and is the second highest for Barcelona region (12,1% share). The domestic market will be the main source market for Barcelona region (39,0% share) and the second one for the city (12,5% share).
• The Sagrada Familia tops the list of the most frequent online search concepts related to Barcelona city from the main source markets. Other common searches are beaches, the weather and the cathedral.
• All of the analyzed markets will enjoy summer holidays throughout July and August.
• Hotel bookings for the upcoming quarter are overall at higher levels than a year ago in both Barcelona city and Barcelona region.
• Some booking peaks can be observed, coinciding with the start of holiday periods or public holidays in the analysed countries, and others with events in the Barcelona Destination such as festivals and sporting events.
• An increase in the booking lead times can also be observed compared to last year among most source markets.
• Germany and France are the markets showing the longest average stays in Barcelona city (3,7 and 3,6 nights, respectively), while Germany and the United States show the longest stays in Barcelona region (5,4 and 4,6 nights, respectively).
• In general, hotel bookings in both geographical areas have not experienced significant changes in recent weeks, and compared to other European destinations, they maintain similar positioning to the other analyzed cities, with the exception of the Spanish market.

Red the full report