The Barcelona Convention Bureau has presented the results of the Congress Market Survey 2022, carried out by GESOP. This is the first edition of this study after the sudden halt in congress activity caused by Covid-19. For this reason, the main conclusions of this edition are presented below, comparing the results with those obtained before the pandemic.

Congress attendees profile

• Gender and age: In 2022, the majority of congress attendees in Destination Barcelona were men (66.7%) and, although they decreased significantly compared to 2019 (-14.9pp), the group aged between 31 and 45 (43.3%) was the most frequent, followed by the 46 to 60 age group (31.1%), which, on the contrary, increased compared to the pre-pandemic period (+7.7pp).
• Origin: The domestic market continued to lead the ranking of origin of the congress participants in Destination Barcelona (27.7%), although it should be noted that its share was higher than before the pandemic (+5.9pp Var. 22/19). 4 out of 10 came from other European countries.
• Repeatability: On average, congress attendees had been to the congress venue city 6.3 times previously, which means an increase of +1.6 times compared to 2019.

Characteristics of the visit

• Influence of the city where the congress was held on their decision to participate on it: 4 out of 10 said that the fact that the congress was held in Barcelona city influenced their decision to participate on it, while in Barcelona region, half of them did so.
• Travel purpose: Most came to the meeting for professional interests (72.1%), although to a lesser extent than in 2019 (92.3%). On the other hand, those who came for business reasons increased significantly compared to the last study (from 7.4% in 2019 to 26.0% in 2022).
• Transport of arrival: The most used means of transport to reach Destination Barcelona was by air (77.1%), slightly below 2019 (-2.0pp). It was followed by train (14.8%) and private car (7.2%), which were more popular at congresses in the Barcelona region.
• Average stay: In Destination Barcelona, the average stay was 4.6 days, 0.5 days less than in 2019. As before the pandemic, it should be noted that in Barcelona city (4.7 days), the stay was longer than in Barcelona region (4.1 days).
• Travel group and accompanying persons: 2 out of 3 were accompanied, mostly by work colleagues (51.9%). The average number of accompanying persons was 7, much higher than in 2019, when they were only 1.4.
• Other trips: 28.1% of the congress delegates made other trips before or after the congress on the occasion. 32.6% of the people who made or wanted to make another trip said that the chosed destination was Catalonia and 26.2% Spain. These last two results are considerably higher than in 2019, when only 9.1% of these trips were made in Catalonia and 32.2% in Spain.

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The accommodation

• Accommodation typology: Almost 85% of congress attendees stayed in hotels (+2.1pp Var. 22/19), mainly four-star hotels (55.3%).
• Booking method and lead time: The majority of hotel bookings were made by the company they worked for (47.0%) with a period of 1 to 3 months in advance (42.7%). On the other hand, compared to 2019, bookings made further in advance decreased (-16.3pp Var. 22/19), to the benefit of bookings made less than one month in advance (+27.5pp). As a result, the lead time of bookings shortened, following the trend observed in the rest of the tourism activity.
• Accommodation evaluation: The stay in the hotels was satisfactory for most of congress participants, as their staff professionalism and the treatment, their services, their environment respect and their quality/price ratio were rated, on average, between 4.0 and 4.5 out of 5.0. All the ratings analysed improved compared to 2019.

The congress

• Congress inscription and booking: Almost half of the congress attendees registered for the congress between 1 and 3 months before the congress (45.1%), but the percentage of those who registered more than three months before the congress was higher than those who booked accommodation with the same lead time period, which means that the registration was made, on average, before the accommodation was booked.
• Evaluation of the congress organisation: Almost 90% rated the organisation of the congress as good or very good. All the suggested aspects of the meeting received positive average evaluations: those related to the organisation, as well as those referring to the location, facilities and services. The overall rating, 4.3 out of 5, remained stable compared to 2019.

The city of the venue

• Visit to the city where the congress took place: 3 out of 4 congress attendees visited the city where the congress was held during their stay. This proportion was slightly higher in Barcelona city (79.0%) than in Barcelona region (72.2%). However, it should be noted that these were significantly higher in 2019, when 94.0% of those surveyed in Destination Barcelona stated that they had visited the congress municipality.
• Evaluation of the city of the congress: All aspects related to the catering and commercial offer of the city where the congress took place received scores above 4.0 out of 5.0. As for the evaluation of the different aspects of the city, the cultural and architectural/monumental assets were the most highly rated, while cleanliness, noise and air pollution were the most controversial. Overall, there are no major differences in the ratings compared to the pre-pandemic period, although a greater polarity is observed between the aspects with the highest and lowest ratings, whereby the aspects with the highest scores in 2019 obtain a better score in 2022 and vice versa.

The expenditure

• Average expenditure: Expense on accommodation per person per day was €160.95 (+1.8% Var. 22/19), €540.95 on the transport of arrival (+69.0% Var. 22/19) and €539.49 on the congress fee (-30.4% Var. 22/19). In 7 out of 10 cases, these costs were paid by the company or institution.
• Expense during the stay: Congress participants spent an average of an additional €112.36 per person per day (-6.5% Var. 22/19). The item on which the most money was spent was food (64.5%).

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The 2022 Congress Market Survey was carried out among those attending congresses held in Destination Barcelona in 2022, with the aim of achieving a better knowledge of their profile, analysing different aspects of their stay and measuring their satisfaction with the congress and the visit. The study, which was carried out for the first time in Barcelona city in 1993 and in Barcelona region in 2018, has taken into account this year the OTB's three usual geographical areas of work: Barcelona city, Barcelona region and Destination Barcelona.

2022 Congress Market Survey. Results presentation (in Catalan)

More information: bcb@barcelonaturisme.com