Barcelona continues its promotional display for the recovery of the tourism lost during the pandemic, with the challenge of improving its quality and selecting the most convenient audiences for the Catalan capital. This Thursday Tourism of Barcelona has presented at the Gran Teatre del Liceu the action with which it wants to reconquer the European proximity market, the most important for the local sector, in what will be a tour through six countries and 10 cities where the main novelties of the destination will be presented. It will do so in a context of notable optimism, with a forecast of 70% hotel occupancy at Easterand to reach 75% of pre-pandemic activity in 2022.
As explained by the director of the consortium, Marian Wall, will reconnect with the most relevant agents and prescribers in the industry, after two years with hardly any activity due to restrictions. According to their data, 84% of the tourism that the city received before the pandemic was international, but the European represents around 65% of the total. The moment is considered ideal because several polls reveal that two-thirds of Europeans will travel during the first semester, with motivations such as enjoying an urban getaway (15%), the good weather, the sun and the beach (15%), or culture and heritage (13%). With the particularity that most have not yet chosen their destination and that in the new context, travelers will be younger, going from 36 years on average to 30.
“You have to explain that Barcelona is fine, it’s active and it’s safe“, highlighted Muro, with the challenge of selling the Catalan metropolis as a seasonally adjusted and differentiated offer, and convinced that the time has come to re-present its new strengths to the world in a favorable environment.
Positive despite the war
For its president, Eduard Torres, elements such as hosting the 2024 Copa América reflect how “well situated” the city is and its projection in the face of that “recovery so longed for by all”. It hopes to recover three quarters of the activity of 2019 during the year despite the uncertainty caused by the war in Ukraine.
In the short term, sights are set on European tourism, given that most of the visitors who land at El Prat are from France, Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, although the podium in terms of highest expense they integrate it Germany, UK and the Netherlands. Tools such as Google show that in recent weeks searches for Barcelona come from 25% of the Spanish market as a whole, followed by French (2.3%), Italian (1.8%), British (1.4%) and German (1.4%).
the tour of Tourism of Barcelona proposes for each market a specific offer that covers from culture to shopping, through nature. will start in Germany next week, given that it is the fifth most important market for the city, with 5% of the total share. In 2021, 160,614 Germans visited Barcelona (more than half as repeaters), totaling 510,000 hotel overnight stays and spending 340.8 euros, higher than the average. They will be presented with cultural, wine tourism and sports news, among others, such as the Literary Barcelona, taking advantage of the Frankfurt book fair, or the Liceu musical.
The celebration in 2023 of the Year of Picasso and the World Capital of Architecture in 2026, will be other ingredients of the “story of Barcelona”, as well as the Scientific and Technological Barcelona, the sustainable one or its Workation program for those who want to telework in the Catalan capital, as many Europeans already do.
road to winter
The tour will continue for France (leading international market in accommodation, with a 14.3% share) at the beginning of June in Lyon and Paris. Later, in United Kingdom (because of Brexit) the shopping vein will be promoted with Tax Free in London and Manchester, in addition to promoting the activity of the 200th anniversary of Passeig de Gràcia.
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During the second half of the year, in Italy Milan and Rome will be visited, because they account for 5.3% of the share of local visitors, around 30 years of age, with average stays of five days in the city. The tour will conclude at the end of the year in Holland and Belgium.
Turismo de Barcelona will focus its promotion this year on the Spanish market –which after the drought of the international has reached 30% of the total–, the European and North American. Instead, it will postpone Asia to 2024, when it is hoped that this segment will regain mobility.