Destination Barcelona records an increase in professional profile and tourists’ spending during the stay in September

The Barcelona Tourism Observatory: city and region, presents the monthly analysis of the main tourism activity monitoring indicators.

The main conclusions of the September update are presented below by geographical area:

Barcelona city

• Hotels and guesthouses supply accounted for 688 establishments and more than 87,000 available beds. This means almost the same number of beds compared to the previous month, but over the same month last year (+1.8% Var. 24/23).
• Although demand in hotels, guesthouses and homes for tourist use (HTUs) decreased month-on-month, due to tourism seasonality, both tourists and overnight stays grew year-on-year, thanks to demand in HTUs (+11.4% in overnight stays Var. 24/23). On the other hand, hotel establishments saw their demand reduced (-3.9% in overnight stays Var. 24/23).
• The average length of stay was 2.6 nights in hotel establishments and 3.8 nights in VUTs. However, occupancy in bedplaces in hotel establishments was 70.2% (-3.3pp Var. 24/23) and in VUTS, 63.5% (+5.7pp Var. 24/23).
• At Barcelona Airport, 5.1 million movements of passengers were recorded, well ahead of the same period of 2023 (+10.3% Var. 24/23 in passengers). The ranking of countries from which passengers flew to Barcelona Airport during this month was leaded by Spain. Passengers flying from Italy ranked second, followed by the United Kingdom, Germany, and France.
• In Port of Barcelona, 460,000 cruise passengers were registered, growing, not only month-on-month bot also year-on-year (+11.9% Var. 24/23), due to the high supply of cruise ships during this month. As for ferries, the seasonal nature of tourism caused the number of passengers on this type of transport to be lower than the previous month, yet over the previous year (+3.0% Var. 24/23).
• In the ICUB’s cultural facilities fewer visitors than last year were received (-7.5% Var. 24/23) and 7 out of 10 were international, slightly behind the same month last year.
• On the other hand, in hotel establishments, the proportion of international tourists was close to 85%. They were led by tourists residing in the US (17.5% share), Spain (15.4%), and the UK (7.0%).
• The typical tourist in the city of Barcelona¹ was a 38-year-old person, traveling for leisure (57.2%) and as a couple (29.7%). Although these two characteristics remained predominant, they lost weight month-on-motnh in favor of business and solo travel, which increased during this period.
• The average expense was 105.8€ per person per day (+11.9 month-on-month and 10.2% year-on-year). Most of this expenditure was invested in food and drinks (45.9%), followed by entertainment, leisure, and culture (22.5%) and shopping for clothes, footwear, souvenirs, and other items (16.4%).
• Spending with bank cards on tourist services in Barcelona city stores was around +11% year-on-year. 27.8% of spending with a bank card in the city was international. Of all the categories analyzed, restaurant services recorded the highest spending.
• With regard to the job market, in September, new hiring in the core of tourism activity was again reactivated after the slowdown experienced in August. Permanent contracts in tourism activity in the city once again outnumbered temporary contracts (56.9% vs. 43.2%) and registered unemployment in the activity was slightly above the same period of 2023 (+1.1% Var. 24/23).

Barcelona regió

• The open accommodation supply in the region was +0,7% higher than in September 2023, with a total of 1,129 establishments and about 93,500 operating bedplaces, if hotel establishments, campsites and rural tourism are taken into account.
• Also in Barcelona region, there was a reduction in tourism demand due to the end of the summer. When compared year-on-year, although the number of tourists decreased compared to 2023, the demand for tourist accommodation grew year-on-year thanks to an increase in the average stay (from 3.1 to 3.3 nights), which took to an increase in overnight stays (+7.2% Var. 24/23). This growth of the demand was mainly caused by to hotel establishments and campsites (+6.2% and +12.2% Var. 24/23 in overnight stays, respectively), while rural tourism remained fairly stable (-0.3% Var. 24/23).
• Campsites remained the type of accommodation with the longest stay (4.9 nights), followed by rural tourism establishments (3.1 nights) and hotels (2.2 nights).
• The typical tourist in Barcelona region during this month¹ was a person aged 44, travelling for leisure (57.6%) and as a couple (35.9%). The average expenditure during the stay, 55.6€ per person per day, grew month-on-month (+27.0%), as the proportion of tourists traveling for professional reasons did too, almost doubling their in proportion (from 15.6% in August to 27.0% in September). This expenditure was mainly spent on food and beverages (58.7%) and purchases of clothing, footwear and others (16.7%).
• Both indefinite and temporary hiring in tourism activity in Barcelona region also increased month-on-month, and the indefinite also outnumbered the temporary contracts (62.7% vs 37.3%). The registered unemployment decreased by -0.7% month-on-month.

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¹ For more information on the profile and habits of tourists during September in Destination Barcelona, please click on the following link. 

Consult the interactive report: