• Covid-19 causes an unprecedented crisis in the tourism sector and the temporary closure of a large part of the accommodation offer in Destination Barcelona: almost half of the bed supplies in Barcelona city and 2 out of 3 in Barcelona region.
• Tourists and overnight stays have experienced a historic drop (-75.1% and -73.3%, respectively). Despite the occupancy falls, the average stay has increased to 2.7 nights (+0.2 nights).
• The number of passengers at Barcelona Airport, Barcelona Port and international trains has also decreased by over -75.0%.

The Observatory of Tourism in Barcelona: city and region has published the first capsule of the 2020 Barcelona Tourism Activity Report, which provides the first data on tourist activity at the three geographical levels that the OTB works on: Barcelona city, Barcelona region, and Destination Barcelona. This capsule contains three chapters with data on accommodation, tourist demand, and infrastructures.

In 2015, a moratorium on the licenses was established by the Barcelona City Council, and in 2017, the PEUAT was launched. These measures fixed a limit on the licenses number in Barcelona city. In 2020, the cessation of the activity of many homes for tourist use and the impossibility of applying for new licenses, has led to a slight reduction in the number of tourist establishments (-37).

On the other hand, in the Barcelona region, more licenses have been registered (+4.5% YoY), although the growth in the number of places has been lower (+1.8%).

Despite everything, it must be taken into account that the crisis caused by Covid-19 in the tourism sector has led many establishments to temporarily close their facilities for months. Some of those that reopened after the total lockdown closed again after the summer season.

By type of establishment, hotels, guesthouses, and inns have been the most affected ones in absolute figures, with almost -91,000 fewer available beds than the licensed ones.

In Barcelona city, the bed supplies offer has been halved, while in Barcelona region, only 1 out of 3 beds have remained open on average throughout the year.

In terms of tourism demand, in 2020 5.0 million tourists (-75.1%) and 13.5 million overnight stays (-73.3%) were registered in Barcelona Destination according to available data since it must be taken into account that there is no demand data for Homes for Tourist Use in Barcelona region or youth-hostels data in the whole of Destination Barcelona.

Nevertheless, the average length of stay, 2.7 nights in Destination Barcelona, has been over the 2019 one (+0.2 nights), thanks to the stay prolongation in Barcelona city (+0.4 nights). On the other hand, in the Barcelona region, it has been shorter (-0.2 nights).

In absolute terms, the hotels, guesthouses, and inns demand has been the one that has fallen the most, both in the number of tourists and overnight stays (close to -75%), while campsites and rural accommodation have registered lower reductions (about -50%).

The bed supplies occupancy has decreased in all types of accommodation, although at different levels: campsites (-7.3pp) and rural accommodation (-3.3pp) have shown the highest resilience.

As for the seasonality, it should be highlighted that January and February were the months with the best demand registers, while March, April, and May were the worst, due to total lockdown. The recovery of activity began in June, something that caused an increase in the demand, although at lower levels than in previous years. In autumn, the new mobility restrictions during the weekends caused a new drop in activity, which was partially reactivated with the easing of the measures during the Christmas holidays.

Due to travel restrictions and border closures to contain Covid-19, the infrastructures activity of Destination Barcelona in 2020 has been reduced to similar levels as in the 90s.

Barcelona Airport received 12.7 million passengers, which means a decrease of -75.8%. Noteworthy is the loss of passengers on international flights, which have experienced a drop of -82.3% YoY, while passengers from domestic flights have fallen by -65.7%. The aerodrome has suffered a reduction in its flight offer of -64.4%.

Meanwhile, in Barcelona Port, the cruise activity in April was interrupted. During the first months of the year, 72 cruise ships arrived (-91.0%), bringing just under 200,000 passengers (-93.7%). On the other hand, although ferry operations were also affected (-32.7%), the number of passengers in this means of transport experienced more moderate drops throughout the year (-55.8%).

Finally, international train passengers have registered a decrease of -72.1%.

Related link: Barcelona tourism activity report 2020