Future reservations are concentrated this past month

The Barcelona Tourism Observatory: city and region publishes a new report on the Destination Barcelona tourism activity forecast for May.

Below are the main conclusions of this new edition of the report:

• Air capacity in Barcelona for May is estimated to be 6.5 million seats (+6,6% year-on-year).
• It is expected that during the month, 115 cruise ships will arrive to the Port of Barcelona, below the same month in 2025.
• The cultural and leisure agenda will be marked by festivals and fairs, such as la Feria de Abril in Barcelona (25/04-03/05), the Asparagus Fair in Gavà (03/04-02/05), the Modernist Fairs in Cerdanyola del Vallès (02/05), Terrassa (08/05-09/05) and Barcelona (29/05-31/05), the Rec.0 Experimental Stores in Igualada (07/05-09/05), the Spring Festival in Barcelona (10/05) and the Rain Film Fest in Barcelona (10/05-12/05). Cultural and musical events will also stand out, such as the Night of Museums (16/05) and the concerts by Eros Ramazzotti (02/05), Pablo Alborán (08/05), TWICE (12/05) and Bad Bunny (22/05). There will also be sports events such as the Corte Inglés race (10/05), the Gran Premi de Catalunya MotoGP (15/05-16/05) and the Conde de Godó Sailing Trophy (15/05-16/05).
• In terms of the conference and fair calendar, there are 34 confirmed congresses and more than 90.000 delegates in May. The largest events will be the Vitafoods Europe 2026 and Fespa Global Expo, with around 31.000 and 25.000 expected attendees respectively.
• During May, there will be several holidays shared by multiple source markets, such as the Worker’s Day, the Feast of the Ascension, and the Pentecost.
• In the past month, Google searches for Barcelona have been slightly above those in the same period of 2025. The most popular searches in Barcelona city have been the beach and Sagrada Familia. Among the rising searches, ATP stands out as the main topic.
• Hotel bookings in the past month have been led by the domestic market especially in Barcelona region, where they represent more than half the reservations. The United States have led the international market for Barcelona city, while France has led the international market for Barcelona region. 6 out of 10 bookings have been couples’ trips.
• Currently, the level of reservations for the upcoming months are higher than the previous year in both Barcelona city and Barcelona region.
• Compared to other European destinations, Barcelona city will have a similar level of hotel bookings as Amsterdam, and similar to the average from the cities mentioned in the report. Barcelona region is below the aforementioned.

More information: Tourism Activity Outlook Report for Destination Barcelona (2026-V)