The Gremi d'Hotels de Barcelona opens a new stage in which it will prioritize the quality of clients over quantity. This was stated this Thursday by its president, Jordi Clos, who considered that the sector has entered "a phase of maturity" where it is no longer time to fight for volume, but for a high-value visitor "who loves the destination" and who comes to the city to do business, participate in fairs and congresses, and enjoy its cultural facilities. "Now it is necessary to perform surgery on the visitor", he highlighted, after recalling that since the Olympic Games the city has gone from 4.5 million to almost 19 million hotel overnight stays per year.
This declaration of intent contrary to low cost tourism comes at a peak moment for the sector, which has almost recovered pre-pandemic occupancy rates and which sets historical prices in the commercialization of rooms (186.6 euros per night this summer), which will allow a record volume of turnover to be achieved this year. According to estimates by the Gremi d'Hotels, the 450 establishments that are part of the association will experience an increase in revenue of around 20%, a figure that will translate into an aggregated turnover volume of between 2,000 and 2,100 million euros. The latest data from the sector placed that annual figure at 1,800 million.
"This summer, room prices clearly reached historical highs, with increases of between 20% and 25% compared to 2019 rates," proclaims the president of the hotel employers' association, Jordi Clos, satisfied. According to the businessman, owner of the Derby Hotels group, prices will continue to rise in parallel with the strong growth that the congress, fair and convention sector ---the so-called MICE segment--- is experiencing in Barcelona, reaffirmed as one of the world's leading cities in attracting this type of business events. "Fira de Barcelona already has practically everything full for 2024," Clos advanced, convinced that this sector will "increasingly grow" and will be decisive in achieving the goal of changing the visitor model.
The Gremi d'Hotels has shown high satisfaction with the results of the tourist season this summer, where an occupancy rate of 88% was reached between June and August, only two points below the 90% of 2019, and one point more than in 2022 (87%). Even more positive has been the evolution of prices, with an average amount of 186.6 euros per night, 36 euros more than in 2019 (+24%); and 9.5 euros more than in 2022 (+5%).
The average price exceeded 200 euros in June
By months, a historical maximum of 212 euros per night was set in June, a figure that stood at 191 euros in July and 181 euros in August. Occupancy figures have been similar, with rates of 89% in June and July and 87.8% in August. These percentages are only between 3 and 1.4 points below the same months of 2019.
If the accumulated year is taken into account, between January and August, Barcelona hotels have registered an occupancy of 82.62% (-1.2 points compared to 2019) and an average price of 174.15 euros (+33 euros compared to 2019). Clos highlighted that the evolution of prices "is on a very good path", as it shows that visitors are of higher quality, leaving behind "the flows of low cost tourists that occurred due to the drop in prices" that happened during the health crisis. "That is not the profile we are looking for," he reiterated.
However, the businessman clarified that this rise in rates also responds to the strong increase in costs that the sector has experienced due to the increase in prices and energy expenses. "The rise in prices helps us balance the income statement. It will be a record year in revenue, but not in profits", he explained, recalling that hoteliers had to go into debt and accumulated heavy losses during covid that they are still digesting.
The Gremi shows full harmony with Mayor Collboni
Jordi Clos has made visible the good harmony that exists between the Gremi d'Hotels and the Barcelona City Council after the arrival of Jaume Collboni to the mayor's office and the designation of Jordi Valls as the councilor responsible for the tourism sector. In this regard, the guild has assured that the Plan Endreça promoted by the new mayor has already translated into visible results and that this summer there has been a perception of greater security in the city. "We have noticed that Barcelona is cleaner and has fewer graffiti. The perception is that this summer has been safer and that the civic ordinance has been enforced more," said Manel Casals, general director of the guild.
Clos has also positively valued Collboni's openness to the possibility of reissuing hotel licenses in the city center linked to "extraordinary projects for unique hotels with high added value for the city that will allow us to recover palaces and historic buildings." "I believe that Barcelona still has room for the construction of new unique hotels, as they will allow us to prioritize the quality of visitors even more," said Clos, happy to have put an end to the stage in which the city council "said no to everything." "This type of quality visitor that we are defending generates less conflict," pointed out the businessman, who aspires to obtain a seat on the full board of the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce thanks to the electoral process being held these days.
The president of the Gremi d'Hotels has expressed his willingness to work in close collaboration with the City Council and with the rest of the tourism agents to achieve a change in the visitor profile, "a great city project that will not be done in four days," he stressed. "As a destination, we are at a moment of maturity that allows us to prioritize quality over quantity," he considered, explaining that it is necessary to "perform surgery on the visitor," with a "deep analysis of the profile of people we want to arrive."
Fairs, congresses, and culture: the bet to transform the visitor profile
In his opinion, "the big bet must be MICE", continuing on the path of attracting large fairs and congresses such as MWC, ISE, Seafood, the McDonald's convention (which will bring 14,000 people to the city) or the world's largest fair in the gaming and casino sector, ICE (International Casino Exhibition), as exclusively reported by The New Barcelona Post on August 1. This event will bring more than 45,000 visitors to the city at the end of January 2025.
Jordi Clos: "Barcelona needs to bet on a type of culture that is innovative and contemporary"Clos's challenge is that, in three years, 50% of Barcelona's visitors will be business travelers and 50% leisure tourists,a proportion that is now 60% in favor of visitors who come to the city for leisure. Along with the MICE sector, the great levers for this transformation must be, as he explains, events such as the America's Cup and, especially, culture."We must offer powerful cultural proposals that attract a type of visitor who not only wants to step on the beach or La Rambla. Barcelona needs to make a commitment to a type of culture that is innovative and contemporary, as London did with the Tate Modern project," he concluded, hoping that the transformation of Montjuïc into an international cultural district of reference will finally be executed in the current term.
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