World Swimming Championships: Barcelona hoteliers get their heads above water

The 15th World Swimming Championships brought together some 2,293 international athletes in Barcelona, from July 19th to August 4th 2013. Over the 16 days of the competition, the city’s hoteliers were at the top of their performance, as the figures published by MKG Hospitality show.

In 2013, the World Swimming Championships took place in the swimming pools of Barcelona. This latest competition was full of achievements, in the water as well as on land. Organizers note a record number of 181 participating nations this year, compared to 178 at the Shanghai Internationals in 2011. In total, no less than 2,293 swimmers battled to be among the 40 championship finalists.

The presence of the world's best swimmers in the Catalan capital allowed for a net hotel performance increase in the city, at half-mast in the beginning of July. According to the data published by MKG Hospitality, over the period of the championships, occupancy rates reached almost 90%, an increase of 5.6 points over last year. Cumulative average prices rose by 4%, to more than 145 Euros, causing Revenue per available room in the city to improve by 10% to settle at 130 Euros over the period.

After a rather gloomy beginning of the month for Barcelona's professionals, the trend was reversed with the arrival of the finals that had been awaited by spectators, between July 24th and August 5th. On some days, the increases in RevPAR surpassed 30%, compared to 2012. The World Swimming Internationals thus allowed the city's hoteliers to get their heads above water in July, with an improvement of 3.9% of their Revenue per available room.