In 2017, the airport handled more than 46 million passengers (+8.6% compared to the previous year). In addition to the major business sectors including finance, international trade, media and the arts, the city is also one of the main ports on the Mediterranean for commercial traffic, as well as for the cruise industry.

Barcelona established itself as one of the major destinations for urban tourism in Europe. With nine buildings on UNESCO’s World Heritage list, the city has a rich heritage and culture that enable it to attract increasing volumes of leisure travelers: leisure tourism now represents a little more than one out of two visitors, overtaking business tourism which nonetheless remains very important in the Catalan capital. This tourism boom also brought about a surge in supplies of private rental platforms (AirBnB, HomeAway…) and disturbances with neighbours that have led the new mayor of Barcelona to try to limit the development of new tourist accommodation supply in the city, applying to sharing platforms as well as hotels.

In 2017, the hotel chain supply grew nonetheless by 1.3%, reaching 34,932 rooms as of January 1, 2018.