Tourism hiring grows as a result of the upward trend in the activity

In February 2023, tourism activity in Destination grew so that it allowed tourist accommodation to exceed pre-pandemic values, while other monitoring indicators approached them.

Below are the key indicators of February:

• The number of both open tourist accommodation establishments and bed places grew on the previous month. Thus, an average of more than 130,000 beds were available, which is +0.8% ahead of the same period in 2019.
• The number of tourists and overnight stays also increased month-on-month in the Destination as a whole, and for the first time, monthly overnight stays in both Barcelona city and Barcelona region were higher than in the same pre-pandemic period (+3.7% and +5.8%, respectively). All types of establishment experienced month-on-month growth in overnight stays to a lesser or greater extent, but in percentage terms, the growth in campsites (+55.7%) and hotel establishments in Barcelona region (+22.4%) were particularly noteworthy.
• Although the number of tourists also grew month-on-month, this increase did not exceed the values of 2019, indicating that the average stay was higher than that recorded before the pandemic (+0.3 nights Var. Feb23/Feb19). By geographical area, in Barcelona city, the length of stay was longer than in Barcelona region (+3.0 nights vs. 2.2 nights). The occupancy rate also increased in all cases.
• At Barcelona Airport, a month-on-month increase of +1.8% was registered and the number of passengers reached 3.1 million. Thus, the recovery in air traffic was more than 95% compared to the same period in 2019. In contrast, in Barcelona Port, both cruise and ferry passengers fell compared to the previous month, due to the seasonal nature of this type of transport in winter. However their values were very similar to those of the same period analysed in 2019 (-1.5% and +1.9% Var. Feb23/Feb19, respectively).
• ICUB cultural facilities, which remained close to -16.2% of pre-pandemic activity, received considerably more visitors than in the previous month (+27.0%), even though the proportion of international visitors decreased by -5.7pp.
• On the other hand, foreign tourism increased its share in hotel establishments both in Destination Barcelona (67.1% share and +3.3pp month-on-month) and in Barcelona city (75.7% share and 3.1pp month-on-month). In the latter, the French (8.3%) were the internationals with the highest number of arrivals, followed by the British (7.6%), Italians (6.6%) and Americans (6.3%).
• At Barcelona Airport, the passengers arriving on domestic flights (29.0%) remained in first place. The second place in the ranking continued to be occupied by passengers from Italy (10.5%) followed by those from the United Kingdom (9.0%) and France (7.3%).
• The average spend during the stay in the Destination was €72.1, €5 higher than the previous month. This increase was possible thanks to the growth in spending in Barcelona city (+10.2% month-on-month), which stood at over €90, almost three times higher than in Barcelona region (€31.2). In any case, it is worth noting the year-on-year increase in spending, which was +11.5% for the Destination as a whole. Food and drink was the most popular item, followed by entertainment, leisure and culture, which regained second place.
• Registered unemployment in tourism activity remained below pre-pandemic levels (-20.5%) and permanent contracts (55.0%) once again exceeded temporary contracts in Destination Barcelona as a whole. This suggests that the good outlook for activity this year has been transferred to the job market.

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With the analysis of the different thematic areas, which offer a transversal vision of the sector, the Observatory of Tourism in Barcelona updates the monitoring of the tourism activity. This analysis complements the monthly report on the Profile and Habits of Tourists in Barcelona Destination. All data is presented in three geographical areas: Barcelona city, Barcelona region, and Destination Barcelona.

Consult the interactive report: