Barcelona has been one of the world's great tourist capitals for years. Its power of attraction—based on culture, architecture, gastronomy, and climate—positioned it as the most visited destination in the world last year. But, today, this positioning has evolved into a new reality: the city not only receives tourists but also welcomes innovative professionals and companies attracted by major international events and the dynamism of its ecosystem.
In this sense, business tourism has acquired increasing prominence. Barcelona has consolidated itself as a setting for major international congresses and business events, attracting thousands of professionals and companies from all over the world. But beyond trade fairs and congresses, the city offers other scenarios where this activity unfolds and is experienced more directly.
The business tourist moves differently from the tourist visiting the city; they have a tighter schedule, but also downtime or informal spaces. In these small, more free moments, the city unfolds in another way. Restaurants, streets, hotels, and other areas come into play. Business tourism is not limited to consuming the city: it explores it, connects it, and, in a way, puts it into operation from another logic.
The 22@ not only offers business tourism for congresses and fairs but also a reconfiguration of the city's attractions.
The 22@ district hosts offices, co-working spaces, auditoriums, cafes, wide streets, new buildings, and remnants of a converted old industrial city. The environment acquires particular value, as it allows one to escape the rigidity of a business trip. Furthermore, these types of environments connect with an increasingly common visitor profile: professionals who are not only looking for services but also context. People interested in understanding the dynamics of each city, how work is done, or what businesses are carried out. The 22@ responds to this curiosity.
Barcelona, little by little, has been assuming this change. The high tourist density in the most iconic points ---Ciutat Vella, Gaudí Route or Vila de Gracia--- has caused tourism to spread throughout the city with the intention of having a differentiated and authentic experience of what Barcelona is and what it can offer. And this means that areas that traditionally were not part of the tourist imaginary are beginning to play a role within this experience.
In this broader map of the city, district 22@ is located. The architecture of 22@, mainly formed by old converted factories, new innovative buildings or spaces still in transformation, give the idea of a city in movement, which does not stop evolving. In this line, the district also contributes to broadening the image of Barcelona. An image that projects into the future, with a 22@ that represents the city's role in the current technological revolution.
Thus, 22@ not only offers business tourism for congresses and fairs, but also a reconfiguration of the city's attractions. In the area you can see buildings that already represent part of Barcelona's urban iconography, such as the Torre Glòries. But also examples of the city's contemporary architecture, such as the Disseny Hub Barcelona or the MediaTic building, as well as cultural facilities, such as Can Framis.
At a time when Barcelona is considering how to better manage tourism, 22@ plays a key role in this redefinition of the sector. Not only in the redistribution of visitors, but in the construction of a different model. A model that bets on business tourism and a diversification of areas of the Barcelona brand, a model that wants the city to be lived and not just consumed.
Because if something defines Barcelona today, it is precisely this capacity to go beyond predictable routes. And in this displacement, 22@ has long had a place.