Culture, language and tourism, a good alliance

Tourism has become an opportunity for the cultural projection of cities and a source of funding for many cultural facilities, and in Barcelona it contributes to internationally reinforcing its heritage, creativity, and identity.

A tourist gets off the metro at the Sagrada Família, raises their mobile phone, and focuses on the towers. Afterwards, they will walk towards Park Güell, perhaps enter a museum, or end the day in a restaurant in the city center. On this route, Barcelona not only offers a postcard: it also conveys a way of being, a language, a culture, and its own identity that are part of the city's experience.

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Beyond the economic impact, cultural tourism generates activity, social return, and new opportunities to bring one's own culture closer to both visitors and citizens. Barcelona is not just a desired and admired city: it also conveys a way of being, a language, a culture, and its own identity that are part of the city's experience.

In 2025, the city hosted 16 million tourists; 79% of visitors engaged in cultural activities, and the rating of culture reached 9 out of 10. The data show that culture is one of the city's main attractions and an internationally recognized asset. Museums also reflect this impact: seven out of ten visitors are international, and revenue from ticket sales contributes to driving exhibitions and cultural programming that benefit the entire citizenry.

This cultural projection is also perceived by Barcelonians. According to the 2025 Survey of Tourism Perception in Barcelona, conducted by the Barcelona City Council, almost half of the population considers that the city adequately or very much conveys its identity, culture, and values to visitors, with an average score of 6.2 out of 10.

Furthermore, the idea that tourism can become an opportunity to give visibility to heritage, popular culture, gastronomy, neighborhoods, and the Catalan language is gaining more traction: 4.7% identify culture as a benefit of tourism, far from the 75.4% who highlight the economic impact, which means there is a high margin for growth.

This difference highlights Barcelona's enormous potential to consolidate tourism also as a tool for cultural and identity projection, further strengthening the link between visitors, heritage, and Catalan culture in social perception. Connecting Barcelona's global appeal even more with its cultural identity allows for the consolidation of a tourism model that, in addition to generating economic activity, contributes to projecting Catalan culture to the world.