A tale of two cities

Theo Reilly asks whether business travellers in Barcelona are in danger of being caught in the cross hairs of anti-tourism? As a tourist, you become economically significant but existentially loathsome.” So said David Foster Wallace, American writer of the late 90s and early 2000s. Across Barcelona, locals have been gathering to share their growing frustration with mass tourism and rising costs. With signs reading ‘Tourists go home’ and ‘This isn’t tourism – it’s an invasion’, residents have brought the world’s attention to their crowded city. The critique made by protesters is even more scathing than Foster Wallace’s. According to some locals, foreign revellers and sight-seers aren’t just ‘existentially loathsome’ – they’re also economically disruptive. Demand from 26 million visitors per year means apartments are rented out short-term at high prices, multinational chains are taking over local businesses, and locals are finding themselves in tourism-related jobs with low pay – an average of just €75/day. The protests have generated huge publicity. It remains to be seen, however, whether visitors will heed the protesters’ warning. Data shows that tourism in Spain actually rose 9% in June compared to the previous year, despite protests across Mallorca and Menorca as early as 1 June. Good weather and cheap flights (within Europe) have long kept Spain at the top of the list of popular tourist destinations. Last year, foreign visitors brought €12.6bn to Barcelona – a substantial contribution to the city’s revenue. One type of traveller that offers high-spending with none of the headache is the business delegate. Research shows that travellers on business spend between two and four times more than leisure tourists. Even better, the ‘public nuisance’ critique levelled at tourists doesn’t apply. A study of online complaints by the International Journal of Tourists concluded that the major offenders in tourism were ‘culture disregarders’ (20.9%), ‘disrupters’ (19.7%), ‘photo clickers’ (9.7%) and ‘litterers’ (7.8%). Business travellers are ‘at work’, representing themselves or their companies in a professional capacity. Selfie-taking and disruptive behaviour generally don’t fall within that remit. Like Amsterdam, Barcelona is a city with a split personality. On one side, the city is turning into what mayor Jaume Collboni calls a ‘theme park’, with tourists swarming major sites, drinking cheap alcohol and passing out in an Airbnb before flying back home. But Barcelona has another identity – the Catalan capital is home to a bustling business travel industry. Between 2013 and 2022, Barcelona hosted more delegates than any other city in the world (according to ICCA), welcoming an impressive 135,000 in 2022. Only Vienna and Paris came close, with 105,000 and 101,000. Despite leisure tourism being such a massive industry in Barcelona, 10% of overall stays were made by business travellers in the first quarter of 2024. It’s an impressive badge for the city to hold; one that’s widely known in the industry, and largely unacknowledged by the public. The question for event organisers is: how much spill-over will there be from anti-tourism into the business events sector? I’ll be looking at three areas of concern: accommodation, capacity and environment. Accommodation Barcelona has the highest hotel occupancy rate of any major European city. Hotels in Barcelona are 71.5% full, trumping both London and Paris. If June’s pattern of tourism holds true for the rest of the year, Barcelona is in for record figures in 2024. The Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE) reports that overnight stays in Spain increased 5.4% in June 2024 compared to 2023, with Barcelona hosting the most stays of any Spanish destination. Hotel prices have risen 7.8% nationally. If the trajectory continues, Barcelona’s hotels are set to become some of the most expensive in Europe. With an average hotel night in 2023 costing €115, Barcelona was tied with Paris, far ahead of Lisbon’s €100, Vienna’s €82 and Milan’s €95. It’s nowhere near London or Tokyo levels, but Barcelona’s hotel pricing could still become an issue for meeting planners down the line. Capacity Barcelona welcomed 135,000 delegates last year – more than any other city. That’s due in part to the city’s generous array of venues. The top three convention centres alone (CCIB, Gran Via and Palau de Congresos de Barcelona) have a combined capacity of 28,128. Event technology and management specialists Cvent calculated the city’s total convention centre space at 1,000,000sqm in a 2019 report – ten times the amount of space as Berlin, in a city 11% of the size. The only issue could be that massive demand outstrips infrastructural capacity. But Barcelona hasn’t arrived at that point just yet. Environment Beyond statistical facts about hotel prices and capacity, there are more subtle factors to consider. One way that Barcelona’s anti-tourism wave could bleed into business events is the change in environment. As shown above, tourism in Barcelona shows no signs of slowing down thus far. If levels persist, local discontent could rise, and we can expect more protests going forward. Barcelona runs the risk of becoming synonymous with/notorious for ‘anti-visitor’. The warm welcome delegates are used to could turn frosty. Christoph Tessmar, CEO of the Barcelona Convention Bureau, doesn’t think there’s much to worry about, however: “The incidents experienced during the demonstration should be framed in the context of the protest by a limited group of citizens who want to highlight a particular and global current of opinion from certain social movements. “The image projected by Barcelona, the millions of people who know it … implies being a city with tourism. It is not a touristic city.” In terms of travel, Barcelona is a tale of two cities. Tourist hotspot attracting legions of holidaymakers, and business events hub bringing in high-spenders. Even with a summer of viral protests, Mayor Collboni may not get the reduction in leisure tourist numbers that he’s hoping for. Whatever happens, the local industry and CVB should be on guard that ‘anti-tourist’ doesn’t turn into ‘anti-visitor’. The low-visibility, high-spending nature of the business traveller is exactly what Barcelona needs.