Almost 3m tourists visit Barcelona this summer, 15% fewer than 2019

Business in Barcelona is slowly but steadily recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic. Almost 3 million people visited the Catalan capital from June to the end of August, according to figures released on Thursday by the city council.

Although there were 15% fewer visitors than in 2019, they decided to extend their stays up to 5.3 nights on average per person, more than before. For officials, this is a good outcome of the pandemic as tourism expenses increase as a result of improved work contracts for tourism sector workers because of the new labor market regulation.

"We have had fewer tourists than in 2019, as the number is smaller, but we had more quality visits," Jaume Collboni, Barcelona's deputy mayor, said during a press conference. 

"Therefore," Collboni continued, "fewer tourists, more revenue, and better contracts in hotels," he said before adding that this is the way to a "healthy" post-pandemic recovery.

The vast majority of visitors (84%) came from overseas, while 340,000 (16%) were from other parts of Spain, a market that has grown exponentially.

There were 5,438,000 overnight stays in hotels and tourist apartments in Barcelona, more than any other city in Spain, surpassing Madrid's 4,900,000 and Palma de Mallorca's 3,740,000.

Barcelona port and airport recover 80% of activity

Summer holidays meant an increase in the number of cruise ship passengers, with900,000 travelers arriving by sea, 19.6% fewer than in 2019. 

Barcelona was the base port for 61.2% of these passengers.

From June to August, the airport saw 12,962,385 passengers, 18.4% fewer than in 2019, when there were 15,876,816 travelers. This year's figures are almost double the ones from 2021 (6,500,256).

When asked about the airport expansion, Collboni said he considered the project a "coherent proposal" that would bring quality tourism mainly from Asia and America.

"If we have more direct international flights, we will have more quality tourism, and if not, they will fly to Madrid, as its airport is being expanded," he told journalists.