Tourism

Now that the Covid-19 pandemic is over and tourism has returned to Barcelona, city residents’ opinions of it are similar to those expressed in 2019, according to the 2023 perception survey.

Tourism is back to pre-pandemic levels, and Barcelona residents’ perception of it remains more or less unchanged compared to 2019. Some of the opinions expressed in the latest annual survey drawn up by the Department of Opinion Studies at the Municipal Data Office validate the City Council’s intention to work more on managing tourism in the city.

The report  “Perception of tourism in Barcelona 2023” is based on 1,859 surveys carried out between spring and autumn in 2023, and shows that 56.6% of city residents continue to see tourism as the main source of prosperity in the city, well ahead of any other sector, and that 79.3% believe it creates economic and employment opportunities for Barcelona residents.

The survey,  now in its fourteenth edition, is a good gauge of how city residents feel about the role tourism plays in the economy and the city but also shows how it impacts on the lives of those surveyed, differentiating between those who live in neighbourhoods with large numbers of tourists and those who don’t, and also reflects the perceptions of those who work in the sector.

The 2023 edition shows a rise in the percentage of residents who see tourism as beneficial to the city, from 66.9% to 70.9%, but also in the percentage who see it as harmful, from 17.3% to 23%, reaching 28.2% among those who live in a neighbourhood heavily frequented by tourists. While the main benefit of tourism mentioned is its economic contribution, those who see it as harmful cite its role in driving up prices and, as the main reason, the overcrowding of certain spots. Areas such as La Rambla, the Sagrada Família, Plaça Catalunya – Passeig de Gràcia and the seafront are mentioned as places that some of those surveyed no longer visit due to tourism.

“These perceptions are an endorsement of the municipal government’s commitment to prioritising tourism management, with the implementation of measures to better organise tourist mobility, decentralise attractions and improve traffic in the most crowded areas,” says the Deputy Mayor for the Economy, Treasury, Economic Promotion and Tourism, Jordi Valls, who also highlights “the fact that the economic impact of tourism is increasingly prominent in the survey, as it is a good reflection of the overall recovery experienced in 2023”. He goes on to note that the municipal government is “using tax policy” to increase the return of tourism and reduce its externalities, as well as being “involved in the [Catalan government’s] regulation of tourist flats, which will be a key instrument in providing city councils with tools for taking action”.  

The percentage of people surveyed in 2023 who report working in the tourism sector was up 4 points, reaching 14.2%. Of these workers, 72.9% have an open-ended contract, a percentage that has been rising steadily since labour reform legislation was passed. The percentage of tourism workers who would like to change sectors has decreased, going from 75.5% in 2022 to 59.5% in 2023. The main reasons cited were the desire to grow and interest in other fields. As for satisfaction with employment conditions, the main challenge mentioned had to do with difficulties achieving a work-life balance.

Visitor profiles to encourage

When asked if the city is reaching its limit in terms of tourist capacity, 61.5% of those surveyed think it is, while 36.4% think Barcelona should keep attracting more. These numbers are very similar to the 2019 figures of 61.3% and 35.6%, respectively. When asked about visitor profiles, those surveyed prefer tourists who come to the city for educational, professional or sporting/cultural reasons over cruise ship tourists, whom the majority see in a negative light. Furthermore, 21.5% think there are too many tourist lets in the city, and up to 20.8% report living in buildings with these tourist flats.

In the section asking city residents for their opinion on tourists’ attitudes, the majority continues to feel that visitors are well behaved in the city (53.3% of those surveyed, up 1.4 points compared to the previous year), compared to 27% who feel the opposite (up 1.1 points). Additionally, 45.5% report having interacted with tourism in the past year (significantly down from 60% in 2019), and 23.5% report having hosted someone in their house.