US and French tourists outnumbered domestic tourists in Barcelona city in August

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

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

Barcelona city

• Hotels and guesthouses supply accounted for 674 establishments and almost 87,000 available beds. This means almost the same number of beds compared to the previous month, but over the same month last year (+1.4% Var. 24/23).
• Although that the number of tourists and overnight stays in hotels, guesthouses and homes for tourist use (HTUs) decreased month-on-month, yet the sum of overnight stays grew due to an increase in the average length of stay, that reached 3.2 nights (+0,3 nights MoM). The occupancy in bedplaces in hotel establishments stood at 79.8% (+2.5 pp month-on-month) and at 8.9% in HTUs (+7.0pp month-on-month). Year-on-year, all indicators also grew, specially overnight stays (+4.4% Var. 24/23) and the occupancy rate in HTUs (+7.8% Var. 24/23).
• At Barcelona Airport, 5.4 million movements of passengers were recorded (+0.6% month-on-month), well ahead of the same period of 2023 (+8.9% Var. 24/23 in passengers). The ranking of countries from which passengers flew to Barcelona Airport during this month was leaded by domestic flight passengers. Passengers flying from Italy ranked second, followed by passengers travelling from the United Kingdom, France, and Germany.
• In Port of Barcelona, 456,000 cruise passengers were registered, growing, not only month-on-month bot also year-on-year (+9.5% Var. 24/23). On the other hand, ferry passenger movements, almost 400,000, increased +50.0% month-on-month and 5.4% year-on-year. 
• Although ICUB’s cultural facilities received fewer visitors than last year (-16.5% Var. 24/23), 3 out of 4 were international.
• On the other hand, in hotel establishments, the proportion of international tourists was 9 out of 10. They were led by Americans (14.9% share) and the French (11.1%), who even outnumbered domestic tourists (10.9%).
• The typical tourist in the city of Barcelona¹ was a 34-year-old person, traveling for leisure (82.4%) and as a couple (38.2%). Their average expense was 94.5€ per person per day, +12.7 year-on-year. Most of this expenditure was invested in food and drinks (44.7%), followed by entertainment, leisure, and culture (21.1%) and shopping for clothes, footwear, souvenirs, and other items (20.3%).
• Spending with bank cards on tourist services in Barcelona city stores was around +14% year-on-year. 34.4% of spending with a bank card in the city was international. Of all the categories analyzed, restaurant services recorded the highest spending.
• Regarding the labor market, despite the fact that in August new hiring in the core of tourism activity slowed down, permanent contracts once again exceeded temporary contracts (56.7% vs. 43.3%). Registered unemployment grew slightly (+3.1% Var. 24/23).

Barcelona region

• The open accommodation supply in the region was +0,1% higher than in August 2023, with a total of 1,132 establishments and about 95,000 operating bedplaces.
• Despite also registering a month-over-month reduction in the number of tourists, the demand for tourist accommodation grew on the previous month, thanks to an increase in the average length of stay (from 3.6 to 4.0 nights), which led to an increase in overnight stays. In addition, the number of nights in hotel establishments, campsites and rural tourism grew by +3.0% year-on-year.
• Campsites remained the type of accommodation with the longest length of stay (6.0 nights), followed by rural tourism establishments (4.3 nights) and hotel establishments (3.6 nights).
• 67.0% of tourists in hotel establishments in Barcelona region were international (+2.3pp month-on-month).
• The typical tourist in Barcelona region during this month¹ was a person aged 44, travelling for leisure (74.4%) and as a couple (40.9%). The average expenditure during the stay, 43.8€ per person per day, also grew year-on-year (+9.4%). This expenditure was mainly spent on food and drinks (61.5%), followed by the shopping for clothes, footwear, souvenirs, and other items (18.7%).
• Both indefinite and temporary hiring in tourism activity in Barcelona region decreased month-on-month, but the indefinite also outnumbered the temporary (65.2% vs 34.8%). The registered unemployment decreased by -0.9% month-on-month.

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

More information: 

Monitpring of tourism activity summary – Summer 2024 (July + August)

Results report. Profile and habits of tourists in Destination Barcelona summer (July + August) 2024

Consult the interactive report: