Christmas events boost the leisure and cultural offer in Destination Barcelona in December

The Observatory of Tourism in Barcelona updates the Destination Barcelona tourism forecast report as of 28/11/23.

Connectivity at the destination

• International air capacity: The global flight schedule for the coming weeks shows slightly lower levels than the same period in 2019, around 105 million seats per week.
• Flight offer at Barcelona Airport: Barcelona is currently served by 78 airlines flying to 166 destinations, 41 of which are intercontinental. Over the next months, about 4.6 million seats will be offered monthly, which is +18.0% ahead last year and just -3.7% behind the 2019-2020 winter season.
• Cruises at Port de Barcelona: near 30 cruise ships are expected to arrive in Barcelona in December.

Agenda

• Culture and leisure events: Destination Barcelona has alreade kicked off the Christmas season with several related events thorughout the territory such as Christmas markets, special concerts, live nativity scenes and other popular festivals and traditions. On the sporting area, several football and basketball matches have been scheduled (some of which against international visitor teams), and the final of the World Paddle Tour will take place at the Palau Sant Jordi. On the cultural, two exhibitions in the city of Barcelona stand out: the World Press Photo 2023 at the CCCB and the double exhibition “Miró-Picasso” at the Museu Picasso and the Fundació Miró.
• Professional events and trade fairs: Due to the December long weekend and the proximity of the Christmas holidays, the professional calendar will record a low number of congresses in December (2). At the same time, 4 trade fairs will be held at Fira de Barcelona. These figures are higher than in the same month last year.

Interest for the destination

• Online search trends: Over last weeks, searches for Barcelona city have ben ahead of those registered in the same period of 2022, while those for Destination Barcelona, behind.They both have followed a downward trend.
• Positioning of the destination in online searches: Over the last month, Destination Barcelona has ranked the 11th in the ranking of international destinations for accommodation searches and 9th for flight searches.

   

Accommodation demand forecast

• Seasonality and hotel bookings lead time: Over the last weeks, hotel bookings for Barcelona city have recorded a similar level than the same period of 2022, while those for Barcelona region, have been higher. The lead time for bookings made in November has stood at 55.6 days in Barcelona city and 55.0 days in Barcelona region, so that it has increased in both geographical areas MoM, especially in the latter.
• Origin and travel group: International bookings in November have exceeded domestic bookings in Barcelona city (64,3%), while in Barcelona region, domestic bookings have been the most frequent (69,7%). In Barcelona city, bookings from the United States (10.7%) were the most frequent international bookings, while those from France (8.1%) were the most frequent in Barcelona region. More than half of the bookings were made for travelling as a couple.
• Level of bookings: Currently, the level of bookings for the next quarter is above the level recorded last year in both Barcelona city and Barcelona region, particularly for stays in December. The Spanish market is the one with the highest levels of bookings for this period, especially in Barcelona region.
• Length of stay: The average length of stay for bookings between December 2023 and February 2024 is 3.6 nights in Barcelona city and 3.6 in Barcelona region.
• Benchmark: Barcelona city and Barcelona region are, respectively, in the fifth and the last position in the ranking of hotel bookings of European destinations analysed for stays during the next three months. Both, the volume of bookings and the ADR in Barcelona city is behind of Madrid’s, while the average length of stay is much higher.
• Hotel bookings for the long weekend in December and Christmas:
  • ​Hotel bookings for these periods are, at the moment, above the levels recorded last year at the same dates, especially for the December long weekend in Barcelona city.
  • Bookings for stays during the Christmas period show that arrivals will be more or less sustained from the weekend before Christmas Day until the end of the year. From then on, there will be a clear drop in arrivals, less evident in Barcelona region, where national tourists, who have longer Christmas holidays than international markets, predominate.
  • The average stay during the long weekend in December will be 3.7 nights in Barcelona city and close to 3 nights in the region. Although these average stays will be lower than last year’s, the ADR has increased by around +15%. The national tourist is leading the bookings of the stays during this period, followed by the Italian tourist, who will also have a public holiday during this period (08/12). 
  • On the other hand, the average stay during the Christmas holidays will be higher in both geographical areas, above 4 nights. The ADR for this period has also increased (between +8 and +9% year-on-year) and, although in Barcelona region national bookings account for 6 out of 10, in the city of Barcelona, international bookings for this period account for more than 80%.

Destination Barcelona Tourism Forecast report (28/11/23)