There was a time, not too long ago, when each record of tourist influx to Barcelona was hailed by all agents in the sector as a victory. Nobody dared to define limits. But both political institutions and many of those who make a living from this essential economic activity have definitively changed the discourse of quantity to that of “quality.” The latest proof of this, the words of the president of the Gremi d'Hotels of Barcelona, Jordi Clos, at the press conference evaluating the summer season. “We are in a moment of maturity that allows us to prioritize quality over quantity,” the representative of the hotel association said today.
The union deviates from the discourse of visitor records just at the moment in which the city's establishments have obtained a turnover like never before recorded, thanks to the high occupancy of the places available in the months of July and August and , above all, to the high prices of the rooms.
“We will close the year with a global turnover that is significantly or significantly higher than that of 2019,” Clos acknowledged. Hotels in Barcelona have registered 82.68% occupancy in the first eight months of 2023, 1.2 points less than in the year before the pandemic. But the average price has risen to 174.15 euros, 33.2 more than in 2019.
The remaining months of 2023 and 2024 can be just as good thanks to the growth in business tourism, fairs and conventions. Clos has specified, however, that the record is for income, not for visitors or profits, due to factors such as increased costs (energy, food and structural) and, as the general director of the union has pointed out, Manel Casals, because the credits that had to be requested to face the losses caused by covid still weigh on the income statement – and will continue to do so until 2030.
The president of the Gremi d'Hotels has congratulated himself on the visitor profile that the city tends to attract: a traveler with high purchasing power who comes to Barcelona attracted by sporting and cultural events and large fairs.
The change in the mayor's office has been welcomed with undisguised satisfaction by the union, which did not exactly maintain a fluid and friendly relationship with the City Council during Ada Colau's eight years at the head of the municipal government. Jordi Clos today reiterated his offer of collaboration to Mayor Jaume Collboni on the basis that Barcelona needs "a quality tourism product, creating new tourist ideas and contemplating spaces of low concentration beyond the municipal limits." And promoting a “cultural offer at the level of the main European cities in this matter.”
