Barcelona suffers tourist slump
Wednesday, 07 Oct, 2009
0
The number of UK visitors to Barcelona in 2008 slumped by 100,000, due to the worsening economic conditions and the weakening of the pound against the euro.
The host city for the ABTA Travel Convention received 675,000 British tourists last year, who generated 1.3m overnight hotel stays in Barcelona.
“This was a considerable drop for us from the previous year,” said Barcelona Tourism communications director Gabriel Guilera.
“The exchange rate made it more expensive to visit Barcelona than previously and of course there has been the effect of the recession.”
Guilera accepted that Barcelona had a reputation as a city for petty crime, such as muggings and theft, but said the authorities were working hard to eradicate this.
“Crime has stayed at a pretty constant level, but of course we want to get it down and are doing everything possible,” he said.
Around 60 per cent of UK visitors to Barcelona come on holiday, with the rest on business. Around 40 per cent are visiting Barcelona for the first time and, on average, each UK visitor spends 90 euros per day in the city, excluding expenditure on their hotel.
Jeremy Skidmore
Vegas’s Billion-Dollar Secrets – What They Don’t Want Tourists to Know
Visit Florida’s New CEO Bryan Griffin Shares His Vision for State Tourism with Graham
Chicago’s Tourism Renaissance: Graham Interviews Kristin Reynolds of Choose Chicago
Graham Talks with Cassandra McCauley of MMGY NextFactor About the Latest Industry Research
Destination International’s Andreas Weissenborn: Research, Advocacy, and Destination Impact
Graham and Don Welsh Discuss the Success of Destinations International’s Annual Conference
Graham and CEO Andre Kiwitz on Ventura Travel’s UK Move and Recruitment for the Role
Brett Laiken and Graham Discuss Florida’s Tourism Momentum and Global Appeal
Graham and Elliot Ferguson on Positioning DC as a Cultural and Inclusive Global Destination
Graham Talks to Fraser Last About His England-to-Ireland Trek for Mental Health Awareness
Kathy Nelson Tells Graham About the Honour of Hosting the World Cup and Kansas City’s Future
Graham McKenzie on Sir Richie Richardson’s Dual Passion for Golf and His Homeland, Antigua
ADS PRO 
Clearing CSS/JS assets' cache... Please wait until this notice disappears...
Updating... Please wait...
Phocuswright reveals the world's largest travel markets in volume in 2025
Higher departure tax and visa cost, e-arrival card: Japan unleashes the fiscal weapon against tourists
Cyclone in Sri Lanka had limited effect on tourism in contrary to media reports
Singapore to forbid entry to undesirable travelers with new no-boarding directive
Euromonitor International unveils world’s top 100 city destinations for 2025