• The most valued aspects of Destination Barcelona municipalities were the character and kindness of the local people (8.53), the weather (8.50), and the accommodation (8.42).
• The international tourists (8.74) and those who travelled for leisure reasons (8.67) are those who valued the best the Destination municipalities in general.
• 71.4% of residents in Barcelona city believed that tourism is rather beneficial for the city, while in Barcelona region, 87.8% for their county.
• The number of tourism companies grew by +2.6% in 2021 and represented 14.2% of the total business network of Destination Barcelona.
• In 2021, the number of Biosphere Responsible Tourism certified tourism companies, services and destinations stood at 819.

The OTB has released the third capsule of the 2021 Barcelona Tourism Activity Report with information on the tourists’ evaluation, the citizens’ opinion, the job market, and the sustainability in Destination Barcelona. The report provides data about the three geographical levels that the OTB covers: Barcelona city, Barcelona region, and Destination Barcelona.

Tourists’ evaluation

The tourists' general evaluation of the Destination Barcelona municipalities reached a score of 8.58 out of 10 in 2021. In Barcelona city, with the highest score, the overall rating was 8.69, while in Barcelona region, 8.45.

More than half of the aspects that were valued in the Destination were rated over 8. The most valued aspects were the character and kindness of the local people (8.53), the weather (8.50), and the accommodation (8.42). On the other hand, the aspects with lower scores kept being the noise (7.20) and the accessibility (7.71).

As for Barcelona city, the best-considered attributes were maintained as the architecture (9.22) and the culture (8.83). The least valued aspects were the noise (6.68) and the general cleanliness (7.51).

In Barcelona region, the character and kindness of people (8.68) remained in the first position, while the public safety climbed from the fifth to the second position (8.60). Noteworthy is the increase in the evaluation of the accommodation (8.58) and the natural environment (8.54), which stood in the third and fourth positions of the ranking.

In general, international tourists were those who give the best scores in all the aspects, while if analysed by travel purpose, tourists travelling for leisure reasons consistently gave higher ratings than those who travelled for personal or professional reasons.

Citizens’ opinion

In Barcelona city (71.4%), as well as in Barcelona region (85.1%), most of the inhabitants thought that tourism is rather beneficial for their city/county.

The economic contribution generated by the tourist activity was the most appreciated positive attribute by residents of both geographical areas, while the anti-social and bad behaviour, the low quality and drinking tourism, and overtourism were the most negative aspects.

Job market

Due to the strong impact of Covid-19 in 2020, and the start of the recovery of tourism activity in 2021, the number of tourism companies increased slightly in Destination Barcelona (+2.6%), during this period. It should be noted that this growth was more moderate in Barcelona city (+1.6%) than in Barcelona region (+3.4%).

The number of workers in tourism decreased in Barcelona city (-3.0%), while in Barcelona region it increased (+3.3%). It should be borne in mind that many workers were still in a situation of temporary lay-off plans (ERTE) and were still registered as active.

The proportion of tourism in relation to the rest of the economic activities continued to be higher in Barcelona city (14.8% in the number of companies and 11.6% in the number of workers) than in Barcelona region (13.9% in the number of companies and 9.9% in the number of workers).

As for the hiring, since the end of the state of alarm in May, there was a clear recovery, interrupted only in August and December, coinciding with the fifth and sixth waves of Covid-19 in Destination Barcelona. On the other hand, registered unemployment fell gradually from March onwards, so that in December there were practically half as many unemployed people as at the beginning of the year in tourism activity in the destination.

Sustainability

For the second consecutive year, and as a preview of the OTB Sustainable Tourism Indicators System (SITS – OTB) results, which will be in the fourth quarter of 2022, several indicators related to tourism sustainability in Destination Barcelona have been calculated. These indicators respond to 3 axes of sustainability (environmental, socio-cultural, and economic) and address various issues such as pollution, mobility, tourist pressure, citizens’ satisfaction, public safety, seasonality, the economic impact of tourism or the job market. Due to the cross-cutting nature of the issues that impact the sustainability of the tourism activity, some of these indicators already appear in other chapters of this report, the results of which have to be interpreted in the unique context of Covid-19.

As for the certifications in tourism sustainability, 6 destinations and 813 companies and services were certified in Biosphere Responsible Tourism. By typology, accommodation companies were the most numerous (30.8%), and by region, Barcelonès (41.3%), Maresme (11.3%), and Alt Penedès (7.4%) were the most represented.

On the other hand, 38 destinations were distinguished by Biosphere Responsible Tourism. Osona was the region with more distinctions (7), followed by Baix Llobregat, Garraf, and Vallès Oriental (6 in each case).

More information: Barcelona tourism activity report 2021 - Capsule 3