Demand for homes for tourist use and rural tourism dwellings picks up in December

En December 2022, tourism activity in Destination continued to approach pre-pandemic levels, despite decreasing due to the tourism seasonal nature of the activity.

Below are the key indicators of December:

• The number of tourist accommodation establishments grew slightly thanks to the reopening of rural tourism establishments in the Destination as a whole. However, the closure of some hotel establishments and campsites, due to seasonlality, meant that the number ofplaces fell compared to the previous month. Thus, an average of 130,000 beds were available in December, which is only -0.01% behind the same period in 2019.
• The number of tourists and overnight stays also fell month-on-month due to seasonality in Destination Barcelona. Although this was more evident in Barcelona region than in Barcelona city, the variations in the number of overnight stays compared to the same period of 2019 in both geographical areas were similar (-1.6% and -1.8%, respectively). By type of establishment, hotel establishments in Barcelona city experienced a decrease in overnight stays of -10.3% compared to the previous month, and those in Barcelona region, -15.3%. Campsites also reduced their demand compared to November (-14.0%, in overnight stays), despite growing compared to the pre-pandemic period (+6.2% Var. Dec-22/Dec-19). On the other hand, homes for tourist use increased their activity month-on-month in both the number of tourists (+6.7%) and overnight stays (+18.0%) and were at similar levels to December 2019. Rural tourism also recorded a notable month-on-month increase of 41.3% in overnight stays.
• The average length of stay remained stable at 2.4 nights compared to November and grew by +0.1 nights compared to the same period of 2019 in Destination Barcelona. In Barcelona city, the length of stay was longer than in Barcelona region (3 nights vs. 2.2 nights).
• At Barcelona Airport, the Christmas period made passengers increase by +1.9% month-on-month, registering more than 3.3 million passengers, which means that the recovery in air traffic remained at around 90% compared to the same period in 2019.
• Coinciding with the December bank holidays at the beginning of the month, the proportion of foreign visitors to the ICUB’s cultural facilities fell in favour of visitors from the rest of Spain. In contrast, the international public increased considerably during the Christmas holidays. However, the these facilities received 19.0% fewer visitors than in the previous month.
• International tourism also lost weight in hotel establishments compared to the previous month, although it continued to be the most numerous in both Destination Barcelona (63.6%) and Barcelona city (71.3%). In the latter, the French (9.6%) were the internationals who registered the most arrivals, followed by Americans (7.9%) and Italians (7.0%).
• At Barcelona Airport, the passengers arriving on domestic flights (29.6%) remained in first place of the ranking of passengers by country of origin. Passengers from Italy (10.0%) followed by the United Kingdom (7.8%) and France (7.7%), remained the second in the ranking.
• The average expenditure during the stay in the Destination was €72.7, €4 below the previous month, but +5.9% above the same period in 2019. By territorial area, Barcelona region recorded a month-on-month increase in spending (+16.7%), while the expense in Barcelona city decreased month-on-month (-14.1%), although being higher than in the same period of 2019 (+5.1%). The item on which the most money was spent was food and drink, followed by entertainment, leisure and culture.
• Expense with bank cards in Barcelona city was higher than the previous year in all the tourist categories analysed, with particularly notable year-on-year increases in spending on accommodation and bars and restaurants.
• As for the job market, registered unemployment in tourism activity remained below pre-pandemic levels (-22.4%) and, of the new contracts, temporary contracts (54.8%) once again exceeded permanent contracts in Destination Barcelona as a whole.

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With the analysis of the different thematic areas, which offer a transversal vision of the sector, the Observatory of Tourism in Barcelona updates the monitoring of the tourism activity. This analysis complements the monthly report on the Profile and Habits of Tourists in Barcelona Destination. All data is presented in three geographical areas: Barcelona city, Barcelona region, and Destination Barcelona.

Consult the interactive report: