30.0% of sports tourists have made an excursion outside the municipality

The profile of the tourist who has participated in sports activities as a participant and/or spectator during his stay, stands out with respect to the overall tourist who has visited Destination Barcelona, in being a man (67.7%), of international origin (70.9%), who visits Destination Barcelona for leisure reasons (75.3%) and who has an average stay of 6.1 nights (1.2 nights more than the global tourist).

Once in the Destination Barcelona, this is a tourist profile that carries out more activities than the rest of the tourists, that values more positively the different aspects of the Destination as a whole and that makes more excursions outside the municipality of overnight stay (30.0% vs. 21.1% of 2022 global).

The Observatory of Tourism in Barcelona: city and region presents the monographic report on sports motivation, 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, on the one hand, the inclusion in this monograph of the possibility of comparing the profile studied with the same profile from the previous year and with the total number of tourists who have visited the Destination by hovering the mouse over the response options in the graphs, and on the other hand, to filter between the three types of sports tourists, those who have practiced a sports activity as participants, those who have attended a sports activity as spectators and those who have carried out a sports activity as participants and/or spectators during their stay in the Barcelona Destination.

 

Sociodemographic profile

• Tourist profile: In 2022, the typical profile of sports tourists during their stay in Destination Barcelona has a weight in Destination Barcelona of 16.2%, 12.2% participants and 6.5% spectators, and stands out with the total tourist who has visited Destination Barcelona in being a man (67.7%), with an average age of 37.1 years, with university studies (65.2%) and working as a salaried employee (63.4%). Noteworthy that while participating tourists stand out for having a higher average age than the spectators tourists (37.7 vs. 35.0 years), among spectators, men stand out above participants (72.3% vs. 65.8%).
• Origin: Although the international market has led the ranking of origin of this type of tourist in Destination Barcelona (70.9%), in the spectator profile, intercontinental tourists have had a significant weight (28.2%). As in the general profile, in the Barcelona region we can observe a significant share of the market of national origin (41.1%).

 

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 (51.9%), with Booking being the most used, and by the information provided by their friends and family (30.3%).
• Alternative destinations: 59.7% 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 (58.8%), followed by the private vehicle (28.1%) and the train (7.0%). Noteworthy that in the Barcelona region, the private vehicle is once again, the most used means of transport to reach the destination municipality (44.1%) and that spectator sports tourists use the plane more frequently than the rest (66.7%).
• Hiring channel: The purchase of arrival transport has mostly made through the company’s website (64.5%), with Vueling and Ryanair being the most used.

Accommodation hiring

• Accommodation typology: The majority of sports tourists have stayed in a hotel (56.8%), followed by those who stayed in private homes (with friends, relatives) (13.7%) and in campsites (12.8%).
• Anticipation of the reservation: Sports tourists who visit Destination Barcelona book their trip more than one month in advance (38.7%).
• Hiring channel: Accommodation has been carried out both through OTAs (online travel agencies) (39.8%) and the company’s website (34.4%). Noteworthy that in the Barcelona city, tourists who hired accommodation through OTAs accounted for 60.6%. As for the type of sports tourist, while spectators mainly use OTAs to hire accommodation (47.0%), participants do so directly with the company (35.2%).

 

Characteristics of the travel

• Travel purpose: The majority of the tourists who visited Destination Barcelona did so for leisure (75.3%).
• Average stay: In Destination Barcelona, the average stay was 6.1 days, data very similar to the previous year. Noteworthy that the average stay of these tourists is 1.2 nights longer than that of all tourists visiting Destination Barcelona.
• Repeatability: The majority of sports tourists who visit us have done so for the first time (51.8%). It is worth noting a change in trend with respect to the previous year, where 58.6% of sports tourists had already visited the municipality before.
• Accompanying persons: The majority of sports travelers to Destination Barcelona have come as a couple (45.8%), followed by those who have come alone (24.6%), with minor children (20.2%) or with friends (16.6%).
• Internal transport: 63.1% of tourists have chosen to travel within the municipality on foot, 27.2% by metro and 21.3% by taxi.

 

Activities at the destination

• Activities undertaken: Going to restaurants (91.2%), taking leisurely walks to relax (90.2%), going to the beach (71.8%) and doing sports activities as participant (71.0%) are the activities most carried out by sports tourists during their stay in Destination Barcelona. Noteworthy that there has been a significant increase in the number of tourists doing activities in natural and outdoor spaces during their stay by both as participants (56.4% and 46.1%, respectively) and as spectators (54.1% and 48.1%, respectively).
• Excursions made: 30.0% of these tourists in the Destination have made an excursion outside the municipality where they stayed, which represents an increase of 8.9pp with respect to the total number of tourists. This proportion remains higher in the Barcelona region (40.3%) than in the Barcelona city (14.4%), and higher among participating sports tourists (32.9%) than among spectators (25.0%).

 

Expenses per person

 

• Average expense: The expense of sports tourists during their stay in Destination Barcelona is quite similar in relation to the total number of tourists in 2022, and has been distributed as follows: € 313.81 in round trip transport per tourist, € 57.56 in accommodation per person per day and € 63.58 in other expenses per person per night. Noteworthy that spectator sports tourists have a higher expenditure on round trip transport per tourist and accommodation per person per day (€ 400.73 and € 81.80, respectively) than participants (€ 286.19 and € 54.36, respectively).
• Breakdown of Expenses: Tourists continue to spend, once again, almost half of their spending during their stay on food and drink, and distributing the rest, in that order, on entertainment, shopping and internal transport. Noteworthy that there is a significant difference in the distribution of expenditure according to the type of sports tourist, since while the participating tourist spends 52.6% of his stay expenses on food and drink, 16.9% on shopping and 16.0% on entertainment, the spectator tourist spends 39.7% on food and drink, 25.7% on entertainment and 20.2% on shopping.

 

Evaluation

• Evaluation of the municipality: The tourist who visits Destination Barcelona is mainly attracted by the climate (8.73) and by the character and friendliness of the people (8.64), and values the whole of this destination municipality very positively (8.66). Noteworthy that in the Barcelona city this profile of travelers values very positively the architecture (9.20) and the culture (8.87) of the city.

 _______________________________________________________________________________________________                                                                                                                

The Profile and Habits of Tourists in Destination Barcelona 2022 has been undertaken thanks to 1,776 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 carried out and/or attended some activity as a participant/spectator 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. Noteworthy that of the total number of sports tourists, 79.6% have practiced a sport activity and 35.4% have attended a sport activity during their visit to the municipality of overnight stay.

 

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