In June 2021, the tourist activity in Destination Barcelona has kept growing due to the lifting of the restrictive measures to avoid the spread of Covid-19. However, the activity is still way behind 2019 levels and it can’t be compared to 2020 because, during the same period, strong restrictions derived from the total lockdown were still applied.

During June 2021, the accommodation offer in Destination Barcelona has kept growing: only in hotel establishments, around 150 establishments (+22.7%) and 25,000 beds (+35.0%) have reopened. A third of these have been concentrated in Barcelona city.

In Destination Barcelona, the hotel establishments demand figures have clearly improved in all types of accommodation compared to May: A +50.4%-increase in tourists has been registered, while overnight stays have grown by +58.6%. The average stay (+0.2 nights) and the occupancy rate (+5.8pp) have also increased, reaching 32.8% on the second case. As for the homes for tourist use in Barcelona city, the average stay remains high (7.5 nights) and the occupancy rate has been 30.1% (+4.2pp compared to May).

Barcelona Airport has registered an increase of +61.3% in passengers compared to May. Meanwhile, in Barcelona port, ​​the cruise activity has been restarted in June, although the arrival of passengers in this means of transport has still been quite testimonial (2,850). On the other hand, more than 80,000 passengers have been registered on ferries, doubling the previous month's records. However, they have decreased by -45.0% compared to 2019.

In June, the cultural facilities visitors of the city of Barcelona kept stable compared to May, despite the growth of foreign visitors. This increase has also been observed in the presence of international mobile devices in the city.

On the other hand, national tourism remains dominant in Destination Barcelona (54.3% in hotel establishments), because of the high prevalence of domestic tourists in the Barcelona region (71.9%). On the contrary, in Barcelona city, the arrival of international tourists (61.2%), led by the French (15.0%), the Italians (5.6%), and the Germans (5.3%), has exceeded the domestic one (38.8%).

In addition, at Barcelona Airport, the arrival of passengers on domestic flights (50.7%) has almost been equal to the international (49.3%). With accumulated data from January to June, they have been followed by passengers traveling from France, followed by those from Italy and Germany. The UK passengers stand in the eighth position because of the imposed measures to contain the British variant of Covid-19 during the first months of the year.

As for the economic impact of tourism in Barcelona city, purchases with bank cards in the city shops also show how the tourist activity has experienced a slight upturn in the last months, so the YoY variations (var. 21/19) have been around -20%, while those of May, around -30%. Finally, a slight increase in the proportion of international cards use has also been observed. Meanwhile, the expense during the stay per person in the Destination as a whole has grown to €359.0 in June (+29.8% compared to May).

Finally, and as a novelty in the Monitoring of Tourist Activity, this month the hiring and unemployment data in the core of tourist activity in Destination Barcelona have been incorporated. In this sense, it should be noted that a +161.7%-increase in hiring during the second quarter of 2021 has been registered, while in 2019, this increase was +40.5%. However, these hiring levels, especially temporary ones, are still far from 2019. The registered unemployment fell by -10.0% in June compared to May, although it is still +35.7% above the same month of 2019. It must be reminded that thanks to the effect of the lay-off plans (ERTOs), the number of unemployed could have been higher.

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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 on the Latest data section: