The profile of the tourist, who spends €140 or more on food per person per day during their stay, stands out with respect to the overall tourist who has visited the Destination Barcelona, in being a man (78.9%), with a higher average age (40.1 years old), of international origin (75.8%), with university studies (79.7%) and who visits Destination Barcelona both for leisure (49.8%) and for professional reasons (43.8%).

It is a person who has already visited the municipality of overnight stay before (60.9%), who does not look for alternative destinations to the municipality of overnight stay (71.2%) and who usually spends an average of 3.0 nights in the destination (1.9 nights less than the average number of tourists). They usually stay in a hotel (86.7%), if they have to hire accommodation they mainly do it online with the company (42.0%), they arrive by plane (71.7%), they travel more alone (32.6%) and with work colleagues (20.8%) than the rest of the tourists in the destination and they mostly travel around the municipality mainly by taxi (59.7%).

Once in the Destination Barcelona, ​​this is a tourist profile that spends a much higher amount on transport (€ 688.33), accommodation (€ 151.02) and stay (€ 341.25), that carries out the same volume of activities during their stay than the rest, highlighting that they go more to taste gastronomy and enotourism and that they carry out more work activities during their visit, that they evaluate more positively all the different aspects of the Destination and make fewer excursions outside the municipality of overnight stay (16.5% vs 21.1% in 2022 overall).

The Observatory of Tourism in Barcelona: city and region presents the monographic report on the gastronomy, which includes the main conclusions of this profile of tourists in the three usual geographical areas that the OTB covers: Barcelona city, Barcelona region and Destination Barcelona. It is worth highlighting the inclusion in these monographs of the possibility of comparing the profile studied with the same profile from the previous year and with the overall number of tourists who have visited the Destination by hovering the mouse over the response options in the graphs.

Sociodemographic profile

• Tourist profile: In 2022, the typical profile of the gastronomic traveler, who spends €140 or more on food per person per day during their stay, in Destination Barcelona is that of a man (78.9%), with an average age of 40.1 years, with university studies (79.7%) and working as a salaried employee (63.4%).
• Origin: Although the international market has led the ranking of origin of this type of tourist in Destination Barcelona (75.8%), in the Barcelona region, we can observe a significant share of the market of national origin (47.7%).

Travel planning

• Information sources: The majority of these tourists, as with the overall number of tourists who have stayed overnight in Destination Barcelona in 2022, continue to be guided by the information they find on websites (47.3%), with Booking being the most used. Noteworthy that in Barcelona city, tourists guided by information from friends and family also play an important role in this tourist profile (27.3%).
• Alternative destinations: 71.2% of these tourists still do not consider any alternative destination in the municipality where they spend the night.

Transport hiring

• Transport on arrival: The plane has been the most common means of transport used to reach destination Barcelona (71.7%), followed by the private car (16.1%) and the train (7.3%). Noteworthy that in the Barcelona region, unlike in the case of all tourists in this territory, the plane has overtaken the use of the private car as the most common means of transport used to reach the destination municipality (49.0% vs. 34.3%).
• Hiring channel: The purchase of arrival transport has been carried out, once again, mostly through the company's website (59.2%), with Vueling being the most used.

Accommodation hiring

• Accommodation typology: Most of these tourists have stayed in a hotel (86.7%), followed by and holiday apartments (HTUs) (5.0%).
• Anticipation of the reservation: Gastronomic tourists who visit Destination Barcelona mostly book their trip between the last week (37.9%) and the last month (29.2%) before travelling.
• Hiring channel: Accommodation has been carried out mostly through the company's website (42.0%), with Booking being the most used. Noteworthy that in the Barcelona city these tourists mainly booked their accommodation through OTAs (online travel agencies) (45.3%).

Characteristics of the travel

• Travel purpose: The majority of the tourists who visited Destination Barcelona did so both for leisure (49.8%) and for professional reasons (43.8%). Noteworthy that in the Barcelona region, these tourists have visited the territory mainly for professional reasons (52.7%).
• Average stay: In Destination Barcelona, the average stay was 3.0 days, data very similar to the previous year. Noteworthy that the average stay of tourists, who spend €140 or more on food per person per day during their stay, is 1.9 nights shorter than that of all tourists visiting Destination Barcelona.
• Repeatability: The majority of the gastronomic tourists who visit us have already visited the municipality for overnight stays (60.9%), highlighting that 47.1% of the total number of gastronomic tourists have visited 4 times or more in the last 10 years.   
• Accompanying persons: In contrast to the overall profile of tourists in 2022, the majority of gastronomic travelers to Destination Barcelona has come alone (32.6%), followed by those who has come as a couple (26.8%), with work colleagues (20.8%) or with friends (16.9%).
• Internal transport: 59.7% of tourists have chosen to travel by taxi within the municipality, 42.8% on foot and 23.5% by metro.

Activities at the destination

• Activities undertaken: Going to restaurants (98.9%) and taking leisurely walks to relax (81.0%) are the activities most carried out by gastronomic tourists during their stay in Destination Barcelona. Noteworthy is the significant increase in the number of tourists who work during their stay, both in the Barcelona region (56.0%) and in the Barcelona city (40.9%).
• Excursions made: Only 16.5% of these tourists in the Destination have made an excursion outside the municipality where they stayed. This proportion remained higher in Barcelona region (33.1%) than in Barcelona city (9.1%).

Expenses per person

• Average expense: The expense of gastronomic tourists during their stay in Destination Barcelona has increased considerably with respect to the overall number of tourists in 2022, and has been distributed as follows: € 688.33 in round trip transport per tourist, € 151.02 in accommodation per person per day and € 341.25 in other expenses per person per night.
• Breakdown of Expenses: Tourists continue to spend, once again, more than half of their expense during the stay on food and drink, and distributing the rest, in that order, on shopping, entertainment and internal transport.

Evaluation

• Evaluation of the municipality: The tourist who visits Destination Barcelona is mainly attracted by the climate (8.91) and the gastronomy (8.59), and values the whole of this destination municipality very positively (8.58). Noteworthy that in Barcelona city this profile of travelers values very positively the architecture (9.02) and culture (8.74) of the city and in Barcelona region the personal security in the territory (8.80).

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The Profile and Habits of Tourists in Destination Barcelona 2022 has been undertaken thanks to 799 surveys to visitors that stayed overnight in Destination Barcelona in the months of January to December 2022 in any type of accommodation other than a second home or a cruise and who have spent 140€ or more on food per person per day during their stay in the destination, with the objective of getting to know better the profile and habits of travelers during their stay in Destination Barcelona.

For more information: Results report. Profile and habits monograph of tourists motivated by Gastronomy in Destination Barcelona 2022