Barcelona is the big infiltrator on the list of municipalities where high-end places have increased the most in absolute terms (8,271 beds), along with Sant Adrià de Besòs (1,712) and L'Hospitalet de Llobregat (1,528). In fact, the Catalan capital accounts for 4 out of every 10 hotel places gained in Catalonia, regardless of the category to which they belong.The explanation is twofold. On the one hand, Barcelona has not destroyed lower-tier beds (in fact, the opposite; it has gained 2,237). Thus, unlike the tourist towns par excellence, there is no process of substitution of one for another: all the gain is net. In total, there are 10,509 places, a 14.4% increase.On the other hand, despite the municipal moratorium that in 2015 paralyzed the opening of new establishments, projects that were already underway were completed, in some cases after the courts ruled in favor of hoteliers. The urban plan (PEUAT) from 2017 regulated the appearance of new hotels, restricting them to the most tense areas of the city.From the City Council, José Antonio Donaire, commissioner for Sustainable Tourism Management, believes that the measure was "successful" because it "has allowed to contain the growth of supply and, consequently, of demand." The growth of hotel places in the last decade estimates an average annual increase of approximately 1.5%, "very low," according to Donaire.The Barcelona Hotel Association defends that it is a "moderate and coherent growth with the dimension and international positioning of Barcelona." Although the moratorium has boosted the growth of places in the municipalities surrounding Barcelona, the city continues to concentrate 92.2% of hotel beds in Barcelonès, compared to 94.2% before the measure.
Catalan hotels gain stars: a change of model?
The municipalities with more hotel offer destroy beds of less than four stars and create high-end ones
BarcelonaThe L'Azure hotel in Lloret de Mar closed its doors in 2018 as a two-star establishment, and when it reopened, more than two years and 35 million euros of investment later, it had four. It had become a high-end hotel. In the last decade, this segment of the offering has gained weight in Catalonia to become the majority, going from representing 47.41% to 56.93% of the total.
Since 2015, the country has lost 18,332 places in establishments of up to four stars, while, in parallel, it has gained 43,494 in those of four stars or more – of these, however, not all are considered luxury; only a minority—. The net increase in hotel places in the last ten years (25,162 new beds), reported by ARA last week, is the tip of the iceberg of a deeper tectonic plate movement, which shows how Catalonia is gradually consolidating the change in tourism model so longed for by the sector and administrations.
The municipalities that have destroyed the most places are part of the elite of destinations in the country: they concentrate more than 37% of all hotel supply in Catalonia, and this is without including the jewel in the crown: Barcelona. They are spread along the coast and their prominence has led to the dominance of the sun and beach offering in the country, a model questioned for the low quality of employment it creates, the meager levels of economic productivity – that is, the wealth created relative to the resources invested – and the coexistence problems it generates.
Specifically, these are Lloret de Mar (4,911 fewer beds, 35% of the supply in these categories); Salou (-4,845, 34.5%); Santa Susanna (-1,676, 58.9%); Cambrils (-1,627, 60.5%); Malgrat de Mar (-1,482, 32.5%); Calella (-1,471, 17.3%); Castell d'Aro, Platja d'Aro and S'Agaró (-1,471, 17%); Roses (-1,182, 20%); Pineda de Mar (-931, 46.3%); Tossa de Mar (-865, 18.5%), and Vila-seca (-781, 90.7%). In parallel, these are also the places where high-end hotel places have grown the most. The lists coincide.
A change in the tourism model
The mayor of Lloret de Mar, Adrià Lamelas, assures that in this town the change has not involved the creation of new hotels, but rather that "mostly" they are the same ones that already existed in which the owners — who in general continue to be the same — "carried out a complete renovation". The private sector this winter has invested 150 million euros in the municipality to "reinvent itself", both in the field of catering and commerce.
Lamelas celebrates the change in Lloret's offering —where almost 70% of the 29,174 beds are in four-star hotels or more—, because he believes it is moving towards "a higher value tourism". Despite arguing that it is not conditioned by the category of hotels or the income level of visitors, he points out that "many-star hotels require higher specialization, and more specialized jobs".
The Director General of Tourism of Catalonia, Cristina Lagé, believes that there is "a hotel offering clearly more oriented towards quality compared to just ten years ago". In fact, this is the big debate: do higher-category hotels mean higher quality tourism?
More stars, better for whom?
Recently, the Fènix Report has warned of the low productivity of the tourism sector, which is dragging down the Catalan economy; it accounts for 12% of gross domestic product (GDP, the indicator that measures the size of an economy) and generates 16% of jobs. Miquel Puig, professor at Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) and author of the report, believes that the evolution of the tourism offer towards higher-end hotels "is good news, because it means the tourist pays more". "I cannot comment on which tourist is better, I simply point out that what we want is a visitor who pays decent wages and taxes like any other activity," he argues.
It should be remembered that hotels account for 27.2% of the tourist places in Catalonia. 91% of the beds created in the last ten years are in tourist apartments, which, according to Ernest Cañada, professor at the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB), "instead of generating the same employment as hotels, create fewer jobs and more precarious ones".
When asked if changes in hotel categories can help reverse the low productivity of tourism, Puig states that "a four-star hotel is more productive than a three-star one". He explains that "the customer pays more per hour worked by an employee", meaning that "there is an increase in productivity that would allow for higher wages and more taxes to be paid".
Foreign tourists now spend an average of 37% more per day than ten years ago, an increase that puts daily spending at 221.4 euros. For reference, inflation has risen by approximately 27%. According to Puig, "a 4 or 5-star room is much more profitable than a 2 or 3-star one", but he agrees with the distinction made by the professor at the University of Barcelona (UB): "What interests us is to see if this increase in revenue has an impact on the local economy".
However, currently wages are "practically the same" regardless of the hotel category, because "the collective agreement includes very few differences, explains Puig. Simeonova recalls that "gross annual wages continue to be below the Spanish average" and there is "a gender and origin gap".
Only some of the homework done
Following the trend of the last decade, Catalonia faces a historic summer with the sun and beach offering still as a pillar, after breaking records for foreign tourists and spending during the first five months of the year. The improvement in spending per tourist is not the only thing to work on to change the tourism model: the current governmental strategy sets seasonality and territorial deconcentration as pillars.
Simeonova emphasizes that the change of model, which she describes as "structural", is concentrated in the coastal area. "They are the lifelong brands: Costa Brava, the coast of Barcelona and Costa Daurada," she lists.
According to Puig, in Catalonia as a whole, the change in tourist offer "is happening very timidly", while it is advancing "very intensely" in Barcelona and the Balearic Islands because, in these destinations, "no matter how much you raise the category, you know that you will fill that hotel". On the other hand, from the Generalitat, Lagé argues that "it is a generalized trend" that "occurs throughout Catalonia, although each destination evolves at a different pace".
The municipalities that ten years ago concentrated the bulk of the hotel offer continue to do so today. Barcelona concentrates practically 1 in 4 hotel places in Catalonia —it goes from 23.7% to 25.1%—; followed by Salou —from 9.6% to 9.3%—; Lloret de Mar —from 9.5% to 8.9%—; Calella —from 3.57% to 3.27%— and Santa Susanna —from 3.1% to 3.1%—. From the Hotel Association of Barcelona, they argue that "tourist concentration does not depend directly on the presence of hotels, but on the attractiveness of points of interest". "Territorial diversification is not achieved only by limiting or redistributing places, but by managing them", they assure.