Cruise tourism accounts for 2.5% of Barcelona's total daily visitors, according to the study "Cruise Tourism in Barcelona's Tourism Dynamics: Volume, Intensity, and Pressure (2024)," prepared by the University of Girona (UdG). Furthermore, on just 32 days a year, cruise passengers make up more than 5% of total daily visitors, and this percentage does not exceed 7.5%.
This research, the first to offer a comprehensive data-based analysis of how different visitor profiles interact in Barcelona, confirms the minority nature of cruise tourism in the Catalan capital and reveals that cruise passengers do not constitute a structural factor in tourist pressure.
In this sense, it demonstrates that there is a low systematic coincidence between the days of highest tourist influx and the peaks of cruise passengers.
The work, promoted by the Port of Barcelona and the International Association of Cruise Lines, was presented this morning by Dr. Josep Maria Espinet, professor of Tourism and Business at the UdG and researcher at INSETUR, at an event held in Barcelona.
During his presentation, Josep Maria Espinet explained that Barcelona's tourism dynamics "respond to the simultaneous interaction of multiple flows (staying tourists, day-trippers, residents, commuters, and cruise passengers), which coincide in specific spaces and times." He added, "The concentration of cruise passengers in Barcelona is specific, localized, and time-limited; in this sense, cruise tourism is part of this overall dynamic, and its role should be interpreted within the broader tourism system, not in isolation.".
Meanwhile, Mar Pérez, Head of Cruises at the Port of Barcelona, stated: “At the Port of Barcelona, as a rigorous institution that respects the city, we conduct regular studies on various aspects of cruise activity. A good example is the study we presented last year on the economic impact of cruise activity on the city. Today, we are taking another step forward with the first study that measures cruise passengers in relation to visitors to the city of Barcelona, and we can see that they represent 2.5% of the total. We consider this data important in order to manage it in the best possible way, together with other institutions and entities.”.
For his part, CLIA's director in Spain, Alfredo Serrano, stated: “One of our missions is to promote studies that contribute to better governance of tourist destinations. The analysis by the University of Girona confirms that cruise ship activity has a very limited impact on Barcelona's tourism dynamics. We fully share the desire to move towards a sustainable, balanced tourism model that generates value for the city and its residents. Therefore, we are making our data and industry expertise available to the relevant authorities to jointly analyze measures to make this possible.”.
The study identifies three areas for action in tourism planning and management in Barcelona:
1. Data-driven tourism governance. The study proposes moving towards data-driven tourism governance that avoids simplistic diagnoses and improves the understanding of tourism activity according to context, location, and time. It recommends strengthening governance models supported by objective indicators to differentiate between volume, intensity, and pressure, and to identify the relative weight of each segment.
2. Proactive management of tourist flows. The research highlights the opportunity to strengthen proactive management of tourist flows, taking advantage of the predictability of segments such as cruise tourism.
3. Management of critical points. The analysis suggests addressing the points and times where the greatest concentrations occur through specific and focused interventions. Therefore, management strategies should be geared towards improving the spatial distribution of flows, optimizing the capacity of the most strained areas, and acting selectively during peak times, rather than applying generalized measures to the entire tourism system.
Main findings of the study:
- Barcelona is a leading cruise port, but the actual weight of cruise passengers is small within the total number of visitors, and is concentrated in specific times and places.
- Urban saturation responds to complex and multicausal dynamics, derived from the interaction of multiple urban and tourist flows.
- Cruise tourism represents, on average, 2.5% of the total daily visitors to Barcelona; this value does not exceed 7.5%.
- In just 32 days a year, cruise passengers account for more than 5% of the total daily visitors.
- The city's tourism system is dominated by overnight tourists and day-trippers.
There is little overlap between peak tourist days and cruise ship arrivals. - Peak tourist periods are concentrated in specific areas and time slots. On the busiest days, cruise ship passengers never exceed, on average, 6.6% of all visitors.
- Cruise tourism may intensify specific situations of concentration, but it does not explain the structural tourist pressure of the city.
- The availability of data and analysis tools facilitates more accurate, segmented, and evidence-based management.
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