• The report is the outcome of the results of the Survey of Profile and Habits of Tourists in Barcelona city, which has been conducted since 1989.
• Restrictions and measures imposed internationally to contain Covid-19 have changed the profile of the tourist in Barcelona city during 2020.
• The typical tourist profile has been a 34.4-year-old person, who has university studies, who has traveled alone, for leisure and holiday reasons, who arrives at the city by plane and who has already been in Barcelona city.
• The expense during the stay has been € 272.6 per person and € 69.2 per person per day. Food and drink has been the item where more resources have been allocated.

The Observatory of Tourism in Barcelona has published a new study on the Profile and Habits of Tourists in Barcelona city. This study, which has revealed the international pandemic situation, has been undertaken thanks to 2.438 surveys to visitors that stayed overnight in Barcelona city in 2020.

The tourist who travels to Barcelona city is an average of 34.4 years old, has university studies (65.3%), works as an employee (54.5%), and travels mostly alone (39.2%). Leisure and holiday have been the main reasons to visit the city (57.3%), while the plane (61.2%) has been the most used means of transport to arrive. Noteworthy is the rise of the train (21.5%) as the main means of transport to reach the city compared to other years and to the detriment of the plane.

Global mobility restrictions to content the Covid-19 disease have led tourists to rethink both their travel plans and their organization during the stay. These restrictions have caused the tourists who have visited us since July to change the use of the internal transport (22.3%), the transport of arrival (15.8%), the type of the accommodation (13.2%), and the destination of their trip (11.7%). On the other hand, 2 out of 5 have reduced the use of restaurants and leisure activities, 1 out of 3, the cultural visits and 1 out of 10, the duration of the stay. 84.7% of tourists who have visited us since July have stated that they have had sufficient information on the Covid-19 sanitary measures of the destination.

When planning their trip, they mainly have used websites and information provided by friends and relatives. On the other hand, although the purchase of the transport of arrival and the accommodation has been made mainly through the company's website, the accommodation has also been hired through OTAs (Online Travel Agencies), being Booking and Airbnb the most used ones.

Regarding the preference in the type of accommodation, although 41.7% of tourists have stayed in hotels, Covid-19 has caused that a large number of tourists has chosen private homes (with friends, relatives) (28.6%), a typology that has experienced a significant increase over previous years. The average length of stay has been 5.1 nights.

When traveling, the tourists are attracted by architecture and culture and they usually visit the most-known tourist areas of the city. Actually, in Barcelona, despite the fact of already knowing the city (14.3 visits on average per person in the last 10 years), Catalunya Square / Passeig de Gracia (76.3%), Les Rambles (68.2%) and Sagrada Familia (55.8%) keep being the places in which they are more interested.

The expense during the stay has also experienced significant differences compared to previous years, with falls exceeding -40%, reaching € 272.6 per person and € 69.2 per person per day. Despite this variation, the tourist continues to spend almost half of this expenditure on food and drink, followed, in this order, by shopping, entertainment and internal transportation.

Finally, the report also includes an analysis on the places that tourists visit or want to visit outside the city. Noteworthy is that only 9.7% of the surveyed have made an excursion outside of Barcelona, which is similar to previous years.

More infomation: Report on the Profile and Habits of Tourists in Barcelona city 2020