Enhancing Financial Impact of Tourism While Preserving Sustainability in the City of Barcelona

Abstract

Barcelona is a successful tourist destination, but currently it is reaching the limit of its carrying capacity. Consequently, far from increasing the number of visitors and overnight stays, interest should be to recruit those tourists that generate the highest average daily expenditure. To achieve this goal, the following procedure was carried out. In a first phase, from a survey of Turisme de Barcelona, the market was segmented based on the average daily spending per tourist. As a result, three distinct and easily identifiable groups emerged. In the second phase, the group of heavy spenders was selected and an in-depth analysis of their behaviour was conducted, both in terms of total expenditure and by specific categories of goods and tourism services. Results allow making recommendations on how to attract the high-spending market. Promoting tourism for middle-age and older travelers, encouraging short stays and intensifying efforts to increase business versus leisure tourism are some of the measures that would help achieve a greater daily expenditure per person. It would also be helpful to design and develop some tourism products that may be attractive to tourists traveling alone.