Barcelona loses tourist momentum and faces a nearly flat year-end

November points to fewer bookings than a year ago, while December shows a slight improvement

Barcelona airport will offer 5.4 million seats in December, compared to 5.1 million planned for November. Air capacity is increasing in both months, although the Observatorio del Turismo in Barcelona anticipates a more moderate end of the year for hotels.

After nine months of growth in hotel stays, November bookings are below those recorded a year earlier. December, on the other hand, shows slightly higher figures. These are provisional forecasts: last-minute bookings may change depending on the weather or price offers. The average stay is expected to be 3.1 nights.

More seats at the airport and fewer airlines

Air capacity will rise by 3.8% in November and 4.6% in December. In total, there will be 192 routes, up 4.3%; 64 will be intercontinental, an increase of 25.5%. The number of operating airlines will drop slightly to 82.

Cruises will total 74 departures and stopovers, slightly fewer than in 2025. The final number of passengers will depend on ship occupancy.

Madrid leads hotel bookings

In the coming quarter, Barcelona ranks fifth in booking volume among the destinations compared by the observatory with data from The Hotels Network. Madrid tops the list. Next are Vienna, Amsterdam, London, and Berlin.

London also leads in prices, with an average daily rate of 398 euros between November and January. Paris stands at 271 euros and Madrid at 263. Barcelona is at 224 euros, ahead of Berlin.

Congresses in November and searches about the city

Professional tourism takes over from leisure tourism in autumn, although November will not be a particularly notable month. Barcelona has 42 confirmed congresses, most of them small-scale. The Smart City Expo World Congress, with more than 25,000 attendees, took place last week; IBTM World will bring together around 13,000 participants next week. The monthly total will exceed 50,000 congress attendees. In December, activity drops to a minimum due to the Christmas holidays.

The city's festive calendar also includes the Christmas lights. As for October visitors, with consolidated data, 31.6% of final bookings came from the rest of Spain. EEUU accounted for 12.3%; Reino Unido, 6.7%, and France, 6.1%.

54.3% of trips were made by couples. Solo visitors accounted for 27.1%; groups, 12.9%. Families have a residual presence in autumn and winter, except during holiday periods.

In Google searches analysed for the last three months, "Barcelona" and "playas de Barcelona" are among the most searched terms. The Sagrada Família and other references to the temple also occupy top positions.