Barcelona curbs tourism after tripling visitors in 25 years

Barcelona has tripled its number of tourists in 25 years. The city leads the tourism boom in Catalonia. Now, the City Council is committed to not growing any further. Discover how this point has been reached. What impact does it have on local life? Read the full analysis.

Barcelona has experienced unprecedented tourism growth over the last quarter of a century. According to INE data, the city has gone from receiving just over 4 million visitors in 2000 to reaching 12.7 million in 2024, tripling the figure in just 25 years. This increase has been much faster than in other major European cities, placing Barcelona at the centre of the debate on the limits of urban tourism.

Barcelona’s Tourism Commissioner, José Antonio Donaire, says that the city has reached its maximum capacity and that there is broad consensus not to continue growing the number of visitors. The peak was recorded in 2019, when Barcelona received around 14 million tourists, a figure that has not been repeated since the pandemic. Since then, the volume has stabilised at around 12.7 million a year.

The tourism boom has been accompanied by records in key infrastructure. El Prat airport closed 2024 with 55 million passengers, the theoretical maximum according to Aena, whereas at the start of the century it barely exceeded 20 million. For its part, the Port of Barcelona reached 3.65 million cruise passengers, multiplying the figures of 25 years ago by ten.

In this scenario, the City Council, led by Jaume Collboni, has decided not to increase the supply of tourist accommodation places. Donaire expects visitor numbers to remain stable in the coming years, consolidating the current model based on management and reflection on tourism’s impact on the city. This position has the support of both residents and the majority of tourism operators.

The visitor profile has also changed markedly. Currently, 74% of hotel guests in Barcelona are foreign, compared with 60% a quarter of a century ago. In other Catalan provinces, such as Tarragona and Lleida, the share of international tourism is much lower, while in Girona it has even fallen slightly in recent years.