• The typical tourist profile has been a 32.6-year-old person, who has university studies, who has traveled as a couple, for leisure and holiday reasons, who arrives at the city by plane and who visits Barcelona city on average 10.0 times.
• As in 2020, restrictions and measures imposed internationally to contain Covid-19 have changed the profile of the tourist in Barcelona city during 2021.
• The expense during the stay has been € 296.7 per person and € 71.9 per person per day. Food and drink has been the item where more resources have been allocated.

The Observatory of Tourism in Barcelona has published a new study on the Profile and Habits of Tourists in Barcelona city. This study, which has revealed the change in the profile and habits of tourists as a result of the international pandemic situation, has been undertaken thanks to 3.987 surveys to visitors that stayed overnight in Barcelona city in 2021.

The tourist who travels to Barcelona city is an average of 32.6 years old, has university studies (68.1%), works as an employee (57.9%), and travels mostly as a couple (32.8) or alone (31.9%). Leisure and holiday have been the main reasons to visit the city (63.1%), while the plane (61.2%) have been the most used means of transport to arrive.

When planning their trip, they mainly have used websites (62.2%) and information provided by friends and relatives (29.5%). On the other hand, the purchase of the arrival transport was made mainly through the company's website (74.5%) and the hiring of accommodation through OTAs (online travel agencies) (49.2%), with Booking and Airbnb being the most used, and the company's website (42.3%).

Regarding the preference in the type of accommodation, although 52.3% of tourists stay in hotels, very similar to previous years, Covid-19 has caused that large number of tourists have chosen private homes (with friends, relatives) (21.4%), a typology that has experienced a significant increase over the pre-pandemic years. The average length of stay has been 5.1 nights.

When traveling, the tourists are attracted by architecture, culture and climate, and they usually visit the most-known tourist areas of the city. Actually, in Barcelona, despite the fact of already knowing the city (10.0 visits on average per person in the last 10 years), Les Rambles (82.6%) and Catalunya Square / Passeig de Gracia (81.1%) keep being the places in which they are more interested.

The expense during the stay has also experienced significant differences compared to previous years, with falls exceeding -20%, reaching € 296.7 per person and € 71.9 per person per day, still far from € 345.5 per person and € 82.3 per person per day in the pre-pandemic period. Despite this variation, the tourist continues to spend more than half of this expenditure on food and drink, followed, in this order, by shopping, entertainment and internal transportation. Tourists from the United States and the rest of the world have a higher average expense than the rest.

Finally, the report also includes an analysis on the places that tourists visit or want to visit outside the city. Noteworthy is that only 9.8% of the surveyed have made an excursion outside of Barcelona, a trend similar to that of previous years, being Polish tourists, those staying private homes (with friends, relatives) and those between 55 and 64 years old who usually make these excursions.

More infomation: Report on the Profile and Habits of Tourists in Barcelona city 2021