The Barcelona Tourism Observatory: city and region, presents the monthly analysis of the main tourism activity monitoring indicators. The March edition has been marked by the Easter holiday, which has been one month before last year's.

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

Barcelona city

• Hotels and guesthouses supply accounted for 673 establishments and almost 86,600 available beds, which means a slight increase in the number of beds compared to the previous month (+2.5%).

• An early Easter week had a direct impact on the city's tourist demand: both the number of tourists and the number of nights spent in hotels, guesthouses and homes for tourist use (HTU) increased not only month-on-month but also year-on-year (+4.3% in overnight stays Var. 24/23). Thus, the city registered almost 1 million tourists in hotel establishments and HTU, generating almost 3 million overnights. Once again, the HTU recorded the longest length of stay (4.0 nights), while hotels and guesthouses recorded 2.6 nights. The occupancy rate in bed places was around 70%, +10pp above the previous month.

• At Barcelona Airport, more people travelled in March than in the previous month (+17.2%), and the figures remained over the previous year (+13.8% Var. 24/23). The ranking of countries from which passengers flew to Barcelona Airport in March was leaded by domestic flight passengers. Passengers flying from Italy ranked second, followed by passengers travelling from the United Kingdom, and France.

• At Barcelona Port, cruise ship passengers grew sharply over the previous month (+72.6%), due to the increase in the supply of this type of ships, also above the same period last year (+17.9%). Ferry passengers doubled those of the previous month and grew by almost +25% compared to March 2023.

• The number of visitors to the city's cultural facilities remained above the same period last year (+13.3% Var. 24/23) and the share of international visitors increased from 6 to 7 out of 10.

• 2 out of every 10 tourists in hotel establishments in March in the city were domestic. The most frequent international tourists were the American (11.6% share), the Italian (7.1%), and the British (7.0%). 

• The typical tourist in the city of Barcelona¹ was a 36-year-old person, traveling for leisure (59.8%) and as a couple (32.3%). Due to the change in profile compared to the previous month, when the professional tourist was the most frequent, the average expenditure during the stay in the city fell to 72.5 € per person per day (-22.3% compared to the previous month). This expenditure was mainly invested in food and drinks (53.8%), entertainment, leisure, and culture (17.9%) and shopping for clothes, footwear, souvenirs, and other items (14.4%).

• Registered unemployment in the tourism activities remained at almost the same level than last year and indefinite employment meant, once again, more than half of the new hiring (60.2%).

Barcelona region

• The earlier Easter holiday also led to the reopening of some hundred hotels, guesthouses, rural tourism establishments and campsites in the region. In total, there were more than 63,000 operational beds, which means an increase of approximately 13,000 beds compared to the previous month and +16.5% compared to the same period of the previous year in these types of accommodation.

• In total, the region registered more than 400,000 tourists which generated 1 million nights and caused all indicators to increase year-on-year, especially the number of overnight stays, which grew by +31.3% compared to March 2023.

• By type of establishment, campsites almost doubled the number of overnight stays compared to March 2023 and recorded the highest average stay (3.7 nights). Rural tourism establishments also experienced significant growth (+41.1% Var. 24/23), although the average stay was lower (2.2 nights). Finally, demand in hotel establishments grew by +18.0% (Var. 24/23) and also recorded an average stay of 2.2 nights.

• Slightly more than half of the tourists in hotel establishments in Barcelona region were domestic, maintaining their proportion in relation to the previous month. 

• The typical tourist in Barcelona region in March¹ was a 46-year-old person, who travelled for leisure (50.1%), as a couple (35.4%). Their average expenditure during their stay decreased by -8.7% month-on-month, up to €41.3 per person per day. This reduction was also due to a lower share of business tourism compared to the previous month, in favor of tourism for holiday reasons. This expense was mainly invested in food and drinks (64.6%), shopping for clothes, footwear, souvenirs and personal effects (15.9%) and internal transportation (12.4%).

• Unemployment in tourism remained slightly below the same period last year (-2.0%) and permanent contracts outnumbered temporary ones once again (61.1% vs. 38.9%).

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

Consult the interactive report: