Barcelona, Sitges and Castelldefels, the most online searched municipalities in Destination Barcelona

The Barcelona Tourism Observatory: city and region publishes a new Destination Barcelona tourism activity forecast report (October 2024 edition).

The main conclusions of this new edition of the report are presented below:

• Air capacity in Barcelona in October is estimated to register 5.7 million seats (+8.9% YoY)
• More than 100 cruise ships are expected to arrive at Barcelona Port this month, slightly behind September 2023.
• The cultural and leisure agenda in the destination will be highlighted by the 2024 America’s Cup (22/08-21/10) and the Manifesta 15, the European Nomadic Biennial (08/09-24/11). In terms of festivals and traditions, some Moderninst fairs and festivals will be held.
• The congress and trade fair calendar will be highly active. In October, 37 congresses which could host about 26,000 attendees are confirmed.
• in October, Germany, Belgium, France, the Netherlands,and the United Kingdom register mid-term school holidays. Moreover, the first week of the month China will celebrate the Golden Week.
• In the last month, Google searches for Destination Barcelona have registered higher levels than in 2023. The most popular online search terms keep being Sagrada Familia, in Barcelona city, and Barcelona, Sitges, and Castelldefels are the most searched municipalities of Destination Barcelona. Among the most growing searches, once again we find concepts related to the summer (beaches and aquatic parks), and coastal towns.
• In the last month, Destination Barcelona has ranked 9th in flight searches in the online positioning ranking of international destinations.
• Hotel bookings made during the last month were led by the domestic market and bookings from the USA were the most frequent international bookings in Barcelona city, those from France, in Barcelona region. 6 out of 10 bookings were for travelling as a couple, although solo bookings have significantly increased during the last month.
• Bookings for stays in October in Destination Barcelona are slightly ahead of the same period last year. 
• In comparison with other European destinations, for the next quarter, Barcelona city has a similar level of hotel bookings to Amsterdam, while Barcelona region is well below.

More information: Destination Barcelona Tourism Activity Forecast (2024-X)