The Port of Barcelona and its contribution to the city's tourism sector

The city of Barcelona's tourist activity has continued to grow over the last few years, making this sector one of the foundations of the city's economy. Barcelona receives more than 7 million tourists each year, equivalent to 14 million overnight stays. The economic impact of tourism on the city is calculated at 22 million euros per day and generates 100,000 jobs.

The Port of Barcelona's contribution to the city's tourism sector revolves around the development in cruiser traffic.

The Port's investments in the cruiser sector are a very important contribution to Catalonia's tourism sector. Over the past decade, more than 100 million euros have been invested building, enlarging and modernising cruiser infrastructures.

With more than 2,500,000 cruise-goers and 900 stopovers in 2011, the Port of Barcelona has consolidated its position as Europe's top cruise port, and ranks fourth worldwide. It is a benchmark for the cruiser industry.

It is calculated that cruise passengers spent 300 million euros in the city of Barcelona in 2011. This figure includes expenditure on hotels, restaurants, excursions, commerce and transport.

In addition to the money spent by tourists, cruise ships provide much more to the local economy in terms of provisions, crew expenses, auxiliary industries, fuel, machinery, paints, etc.

Overall figures provided by a study from the European Cruise Council indicate that the cruise industry provided Spain with 1.190 billion euros in 2010 and generated more than 25,000 direct, indirect and induced jobs.