Barcelona, the story of a threatened succes

The rivalry between Madrid and Barcelona on the soccer field is legendary. And the same is true in tourism between the Spanish capital and the Catalan metropolis… It's obvious that Barcelona appeals to the world leaders in the luxury hotel industry. The major international groups wish to raise their flag over the Mediterranean metropolis. Very soon, Mandarin Oriental and W will take their places there. And all the new recently created design brands — Armani, Missoni or Edition, the recent association between Marriott and Ian Schrager — have set their sites on this destination that is as trendy as ever. If they succeed in their quest, they will join the brands Le Méridien and Ritz-Carlton, which has been there for a long times with the hotel Arts.All hotel groups dream on about Barcelona. Barcelona's Tourist Office forecasts another 45 new properties, adding 5,000 new rooms to the supply by the year 2010.Over the last decade, overcapacity took its toll on hotel performance in Barcelona. Since 2000, an exceptional year, results have been sporadic. 2008 is disappointing and 2009 is not looking very good either. These new hotels are thus opening in a difficult context. In hopes of softening the impact of these openings, the city may count on the development of business tourism thanks to the 22@Barcelona neighborhood, and the steady growth of fairs and conventions. The new terminal under construction at El Prat airport should also bring many tourists to stroll Las Ramblas or admire Gaudi's masterpieces. When it goes operational in the first semester 2009, traffic should grow to 55 million visitors versus 32.8 million at the end of 2007. Perhaps the future is not so dreary after all for the most festive city in the Mediterranean.Thanks to the Olympic games in 1992, Barcelona is known the world...