The sports agenda, highlight of March in Destination Barcelona

The Observatory of Tourism in Barcelona updates the Destination Barcelona tourism forecast report as of 27/02/24.

Connectivity at the destination

• Flight offer at Barcelona Airport: Barcelona is currently served by 79 airlines flying to 167 destinations, 42 of which are intercontinental. Over the next month, 4.9 million seats will be offered at Barcelona Airport.
• Cruises at Port de Barcelona: 27 cruise ships are expected to arrive in Barcelona in March.

Agenda

• Culture and leisure events: Destination Barcelona will host several important sporting events before Easter: the FCB men’s team will play the second leg of the Champions League against Napoli, a new edition of the Zurich Marató Barcelona will be held and the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya will pass through several towns in Destination, finishing in Barcelona city. In the agenda of popular traditions, the events related to Easter are worth mentioning, and in the leisure calendar, a Depeche Mode concert at the Palau Sant Jordi could attract an international audience.
• Professional and trade fair events: The largest event is expected to be the Saló de l’Ensenyament, with an attendance of approximately 80,000 people. The congress with the largest expected attendance will be the Photo Forum Fest, with 9,000 people.
• Holidays of outbound markets: At the end of March, most European markets will have Easter school holidays.

Interest for the destination

• Online search trends: Over last weeks, searches for both Barcelona city and Destination Barcelona have been ahead of those registered in the same period of 2023. Sagrada Familia, Sitges, Castelldefels, Cubelles and Canet de Mar are some of the most searched destinations in the last quarter.
• Positioning of the destination in online searches: In the last month, Destination Barcelona has improved its position compared to other international destinations, ranking 8th in searches for accommodation and 7th for flights. These figures are at the same level or higher than those of the same month last year.

Accommodation demand forecast

• Seasonality and hotel bookings lead time: During the last few weeks, the volume of bookings made in hotels in Barcelona city has been below the same period in 2023, while bookings in hotels in the Barcelona region have been higher. The lead time for bookings made during the last month has been almost 62 days in Barcelona city and 56 days in Barcelona region, which means similar levels to the same month last year.
• Origin and travel group: International bookings in February have exceeded domestic bookings in Barcelona city (71.2%), while in Barcelona region, domestic bookings have been the most frequent (59.6%). In Barcelona city, bookings from the United States (17.1%) were the most frequent international bookings, while those from France (9.8%) were the most frequent in Barcelona region. 6 out of every 10 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. However, it must be taken into account that this year Easter holidays will be earlier than last year (in March), which has caused the level of bookings to be slightly lower than last year in April.The Spanish market is the one with the highest levels of bookings for the upcoming 3 months, especially in Barcelona region.
• Length of stay: The average length of stay for bookings between March and May 2024 is 3.5 nights in Barcelona city and 2.8 in Barcelona region.
• Benchmark: Barcelona city and Barcelona region are, respectively, in the third and the last position in the ranking of hotel bookings of European destinations analysed for stays during the next three months. The volume of bookings in Barcelona city and Barcelona region is behind of Madrid’s. However, both the average length of stay and the ADR of bookings for Barcelona city are higher than Madrid.
   

Destination Barcelona Tourism Forecast report (27/02/24)