Sports tourism now accounts for nearly 20% of visitors
According to a study by the Barcelona Tourism Observatory, sports tourism accounts for nearly 20% of all visitors to the city. Whether participants or spectators, people visiting Barcelona through an interest in sports spend more days in the city and spend more money than average.
People travelling for this purpose spend an average of 6.4 nights in the city (25.5% longer that the average for visitors in general) and spend an average (without counting transport and accommodation) of 81,10 euros per person per day (some 12.8% more than tourism in general).
In both cases, the main daily spending is on meals. This accounts for nearly half of people’s budget (46.3%), followed by entertainment, shopping and local transport.
The profile of people engaging in sports activities in Barcelona is young and mostly from abroad. There are more men (69.3%) than women (30.7%), with an average age of 30, residing outside of Spain (78.3%), travelling for leisure (65.8%) and having visited the city before (58.9%).
Besides the major pulling power of football, specifically FC Barcelona, the city has an annual sports calendar where urban athletics events stand out. Examples include the Zurich Marató Barcelona, Ironman Barcelona and the Barcelona Firefighters’ Fun Run.
