14.3M of scheduled seats: Air capacity at Barcelona Airport will continue to grow year-on-year during the first quarter of 2025

The Tourism Observatory in Barcelona: city and region publishes a new report on the Tourist Activity Forecast in Destination Barcelona (January 2025 edition).

Below are the main findings from this update:

• Air capacity in Barcelona for the next quarter is estimated at 14.3 million seats (+6.1% year-on-year).
• It is expected that around 25 cruise ships will arrive at the Port of Barcelona during this month, slightly below the same month in 2024.
• The cultural and leisure agenda in the Destination will be highlighted by events related to Christmas at the beginning of the month, and later, by several Tres Tombs parades across the region. In the sports area, two football matches will take place at the Estadi Olímpic, and in music, various concerts will be held at the Palau Sant Jordi, the Liceu, and the Palau de la Música Catalana.
• Destination Barcelona will host 7 congresses with about 3,000 people in January. This month will serve as the prelude to two of the most attended professional events in the Destination: the ISE in early February, and the MWC in early March.
• Canada, Japan, and all the European markets analyzed in the section on school holidays in source markets, have Christmas school holidays at the beginning of the year. Additionally, Argentina has school holidays during January and until early February, while in China, the holidays for Chinese New Year will start on January 20 and last until February 25.
• In the last month, Google searches for the entire Destination Barcelona were higher than in the same period of 2023. The most popular online search terms continue to be the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona city, and the municipalities of Barcelona, Sitges, and Castelldefels in the Destination. Among the increasing searched terms, there are terms related to FCB and the Mike Towers concert in May, in Barcelona city, as well as terms related to Barcelona city and Montserrat, in the Destination Barcelona.
• In the last month, Destination Barcelona ranked 9th in accommodation searches in the international destination online positioning ranking, while for flights, it reached 10th place, ahead of cities such as Madrid, Dublin, and Vienna.
• Hotel bookings made during the last month were led by the domestic market, which maintained its proportion compared to the previous month. In Barcelona city, bookings from the U.S. were the most frequent international ones, while in Barcelona region, those from France were the most common. More than half of the bookings were for couples. Individual bookings have lost ground to group and family bookings.
• Bookings for stays in January in Barcelona city are slightly below the same period last year, while those in the Barcelona region are above.
• For the upcoming quarter, compared to other European destinations, Barcelona city has a higher level of hotel bookings than Paris, Vienna, and London, but lower than Berlin, Madrid, or Amsterdam. In the Barcelona region, the level is significantly lower.

For more information: Tourist Activity Forecast in Destination Barcelona (2025-I).