Compared to last year, Barcelona has risen in the ICCA’s (International Congress and Convention Association) analysis of the meetings tourism sector, ranking 1st by number of delegates and 4th by number of meetings. 

Barcelona continues to rank 7th among European cities in terms of the total number of overnight stays, behind cities such as London, Paris, Istanbul, Rome, Berlin and Amsterdam, and ahead of Madrid (8th). 

For the third consecutive year since the pandemic, the Port of Barcelona took 1st place in the ranking of cruise passenger movements in the Mediterranean, and passenger movements at Barcelona’s airport also remained stable, once again coming in 7th behind London Heathrow, Istanbul, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Amsterdam, Madrid and Frankfurt.

Cultural and leisure sites and facilities

Of the most visited sites in the destination in 2024, 75% were located in the city of Barcelona. With 4.9 million visitors, the Basilica of the Sagrada Família was the most popular site in this geographical area, followed by Park Güell (4.6 million) and the Montjuïc cable car (2.1 million). In the Barcelona region, the most visited locations were the La Roca Village and Viladecans The Style Outlets shopping centres (5.7 and 4.5 million visitors, respectively) and Montserrat Monastery, with 2.4 million.

By category, leisure venues saw the greatest year-on-year growth (11.3%), followed by exhibition centres (6.6%) and wine tourism venues (6.5%).

By geographic area, sites in the city of Barcelona saw a slight year-on-year increase of 1.4%, while visitors to sites in the Barcelona region increased by 10.7%.

The festivals that brought the largest numbers of people to the city in 2024 were the Barcelona Christmas Festival, Primavera Sound, Llum BCN Festival, the Saló del Manga convention, the Grec Festival and Sonar.

Finally, the available data on sporting events shows a widespread decrease in spectators compared to the previous year, mainly due to the drop in attendance at football matches (3.5 million to 1.5 million in just one year).

Further information: 4th instalment of Tourism in Barcelona 2024