The sustainable tourist values Destination Barcelona with 8.82

The profile of the tourist committed to sustainability stands out with respect to the overall tourist who has visited Destination Barcelona as being a person of international origin (72.7%), who visits the Destination more professional tourists (22.9%), who stays in hotels (59.6%), who arrives by plane (66.2%) and who travels more with friends and work colleagues (16.2% and 9.3%, respectively).

Once in Destination Barcelona, this is a tourist profile that spends more on transport (€ 315.34), accommodation (€ 67.01) and stay (€ 73.24), that carries out more activities during their stay, especially doing more ecotourism and outdoor activities, that they value more positively the different aspects of the Destination and make fewer excursions outside the municipality of overnight stay (20.0% vs. 21.1% of the overall 2022).

The Observatory of Tourism in Barcelona: city and region presents the monographic report on sustainability, which includes the main conclusions of this profile of tourists in the three usual geographical areas that the OTB covers: Barcelona city, Barcelona region and Destination Barcelona. It is worth highlighting the inclusion in these monographs of the possibility of comparing the profile studied with the overall number of tourists who have visited the Destination by hovering the mouse over the response options in the graphs.

 

Sociodemographic profile

• Tourist profile: In 2022, the typical profile of the traveler committed to sustainability who has visited the Destination Barcelona is a man (62.0%), with an average age of 37.3 years, with university studies (70.6%) and working as a salaried employee (63.5%).
• Origin: Although the international market has led the ranking of origin of this type of tourist in Destination Barcelona (72.7%), in the Barcelona region, we can see how the market share of international origin (50.0%) is equal to that of national origin (50.0%).

 

Travel planning

• Information sources: Most of these tourists, as with the overall number of tourists who have stayed overnight in Destination Barcelona in 2022, continue to be guided by the information they find on websites (54.9%), with Booking, Tripadvisor and Googlemaps being the most used. Information provided by their friends and family also plays an important role in this tourist profile in Barcelona city (34.8%).
• Alternative destinations: 60.6% of these tourists still do not consider any alternative destination in the municipality where they spend the night.

 

Transport hiring

• Transport on arrival: The plane has been the most common means of transport used to reach destination Barcelona (66.2%), followed by the private car (15.6%) and the train (12.3%). Noteworthy that in the Barcelona region, unlike in the case of all tourists in this territory, the plane has overtaken the use of the private car as the most common means of transport used to reach the destination municipality (40.8%).

• Hiring channel: The purchase of arrival transport has been carried out, once again, mostly through the company’s website (65.8%), with Ryanair and Vueling being the most used.

 

Accommodation hiring

• Accommodation typology: More than half of tourists have stayed in a hotel (59.6%), followed by overnight stays of tourists in private homes (with friends, relatives) (13.3%) and holiday apartments (HTUs) (9.8%).
• Anticipation of the reservation: Sustainable tourists who visit Destination Barcelona mostly book their trip between the last week (28.7%) and the last month (26.5%) before travelling.
• Hiring channel: Accommodation has been carried out mostly through OTAs (online travel agencies) (45.8%), with Booking being the most used. Noteworthy that in the Barcelona region, tourists committed to sustainability have been carried out mostly their accommodation through the company’s website (37.3%).

 

Characteristics of the travel

 

• Travel purpose: Leisure has been the reason for the majority of tourists who come to Destination Barcelona (65.2%), followed by those who have visited for professional reasons (22.9%).
• Average stay: In Destination Barcelona, the average stay was 4.8 days, data very similar to the previous year.
• Repeatability: In contrast to the overall profile in 2022, the sustainable tourist who has already visited Destination Barcelona previously has surpassed the first-time visitor (50.1% vs. 49.2%).
• Accompanying persons: 40.9% of travelers to Destination Barcelona has come as a couple, followed by those who came alone (26.9%) or with friends (16.2%). However noteworthy that in Barcelona region there is an important group of travelers who have visited with minor children (17.2%).
• Internal transport: 53.5% of tourists have chosen to travel on foot within the municipality, 39.7% by metro and 29.9% by taxi.

 

Activities at the destination

• Activities undertaken: Going to restaurants (92.6%) and taking leisurely walks to relax (90.1%) are the activities most carried out by tourists during their stay in Destination Barcelona.
• Excursions made: 20.0% of these tourists in the Destination have made an excursion outside the municipality where they stayed. This proportion remained higher in Barcelona region (40.7%) than in Barcelona city (9.5%).

 

Expenses per person

• Average expense: The expense of sustainable tourists during their stay in Destination Barcelona have been distributed as follows: € 315.34 in round trip transport per tourist, € 73.24 in accommodation per person per day and € 67.01 in other expenses per person per night.
•  Breakdown of Expenses: Tourists continue to spend, once again, almost half of their expense during the stay on food and drink, and distributing the rest, in that order, on shopping, entertainment and internal transport.

 

Evaluation

• Evaluation of the municipality: The tourist who visits Destination Barcelona is mainly attracted by the character and friendliness of the people (8.81) and by the climate (8.74), and values the whole of this destination municipality very positively (8.82). Noteworthy that in Barcelona city this profile of travelers values the city’s architecture (9.39), culture (9.16) and entertainment (8.82) very positively.

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The Profile and Habits of Tourists in Destination Barcelona 2022 has been undertaken thanks to 1.147 surveys to visitors that stayed overnight in Destination Barcelona in the months of January to December 2022 in any type of accommodation other than a second home or a cruise, who would be willing to pay more than 10% for a sustainable service and who take sustainability certificates into account when choosing their destination , with the objective of getting to know better the profile and habits of travelers during their stay in Destination Barcelona.

 

For more information: Results report. Profile and habits monograph of tourists motivated by Sustainability in Destination Barcelona 2022