Christmas events, the highlights of December’s culture and leisure agenda at Destination Barcelona

The Barcelona Tourism Observatory: city and region publishes a new Destination Barcelona tourism activity forecast report (December 2024 edition).

The main conclusions of this new edition of the report are presented below:

• Air capacity in Barcelona in December is estimated to register 4.9 million seats (+3.3% YoY)
• About 40 cruise ships are expected to arrive at Barcelona Port this month, slightly ahead of December 2023.
• The cultural and leisure agenda in the destination will be highlighted by a big diversity of events related to Christmas and the winter solstice: nativity scenes, Christmas fairs and markets and els Pastorets (representation of the birth of Jesus), among others, will be held throughout the territory. Other fairs and markets will also be held, such as the Vic Medieval Market and the la Purísima Fair in Sant Boi. As for sports events, the Jean Bouin race and three football matches will be held at the Olympic Stadium: two FC Barcelona men’s matches and one women’s match.
• The congress calendar will register a low level of activity: 4 congresses have been confirmed for December, which could attract around 1,700 people. In terms of trade fair activity, there will be 3 big events: the Ocasión Fair, the Manga Fair and the Festival de la Infància (Children’s Festival).
• All source markets analysed in the holiday section of the report, except China, will have Christmas school holidays at the end of the year. In Europe, Canada and Japan, Christmas holidays will be extended at least until the first week of 2025.
• In the last month, Google searches for Destination Barcelona have registered higher levels than in 2023. The most popular online search terms keep being Sagrada Familia, in Barcelona city, and Barcelona, Sitges, and Castelldefels are the most searched municipalities of Destination Barcelona. Among the most growing searches related to Barcelona city, we find once again a search related to the FC Barcelona, while between those related to Destination Barcelona, we can find municipalities such as Barcelona, Montserrat o Santa Susanna.
• In the last month, Destination Barcelona has ranked 7th in accommodation searches and 8th in flight searches in the online positioning ranking of international destinations, ahead of cities such as Lisbon, Rome, Madrid, Dublin or Vienna.
• Hotel bookings made during the last month were led by the domestic market, which have increased on the previous month. Bookings from the USA were the most frequent international bookings in Barcelona city, while those from France, in Barcelona region. More than half of the bookings were for travelling as a couple.
• Bookings for stays in December in Barcelona city are below last year’s same period, while in Barcelona region, ahead of them.
• In comparison with other European destinations, for the next quarter, Barcelona city has a similar level of hotel bookings to Paris, but lower than Madrid, London or Amsterdam. Barcelona region‘s bookings level is well below.

More information: Destination Barcelona Tourism Activity Forecast (2024-XII)