Barcelona welcomed 2.8 million cruise passengers in 2024, generating €1.2 billion

The Port of Barcelona welcomed 2.8 million cruise passengers in 2024, generating an estimated €1.2 billion in Catalonia.

This is the main finding of a study by the University of Barcelona (UB), commissioned by the Port of Barcelona and the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), unveiled on Wednesday in Barcelona.

The study estimates that the direct and indirect economic activity linked to cruise tourism contributed around €707 million to Catalonia’s GDP and generated more than 9,500 jobs.

In total, the port registered 3.7 million passenger movements, the standard metric used in the sector, which corresponds to 2.8 million individual travelers.

Of these, nearly 80%, approximately 2.2 million passengers, spent time in the city, while the remainder used Barcelona mainly as a transit point.

Among homeport passengers, those who begin or end their cruise in Barcelona and therefore generate the highest economic impact, the majority are Americans, who represent 28.5% of the total.

These visitors spend an average of €307 per day in the city and stay for an average of 2.8 nights. The number of American cruise passengers has grown by more than 10% over the past decade, and continued to rise even after the tariffs introduced under the Trump administration.

Following the United States in international passenger volume are the United Kingdom (8.5%), Germany (6%), and Canada (4.8%).

By contrast, day-trip cruise visitors, who have a smaller economic impact, numbered about 1.6 million, most of them European, with Italians forming the largest group.

Tax contribution

Cruise passengers make up 4.5% of all tourists in Barcelona, yet their spending accounts for around 9% of total tourism expenditure in the city.

This difference is partly due to tax contribution: day-trip cruise visitors pay applicable tourism taxes, while many day-trippers arriving by bus from other parts of Catalonia are not subject to the same tax regime.

The study also highlights that not all cruise-related spending remains within traditional tourism sectors. In fact, 56% of expenditure goes to areas not directly linked to tourism, extending the economic impact more broadly throughout the regional economy.

In addition, the report provides new data on tax revenue generated by cruise tourism. According to the study, cruise passengers contributed nearly €261 million in taxes in 2024.

Of this amount, the Spanish government received €154 million, the Catalan government about €95 million, and the city of Barcelona around €12 million.

These taxes include income tax (IRPF), value-added tax (IVA), and the tourist tax, the latter of which has been the subject of debate in recent months due to its successive increases.

Reduction of terminals

The director of the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) in Spain, Alfredo Serrano, has warned that increases in the tourist tax will make it "more difficult for people with middle incomes to go on a cruise."

"A family of four arriving in Barcelona has to pay around €60 just to disembark, not to mention the costs in the city, which is not exactly cheap. This will certainly have an impact," he said.

Serrano also cautioned that a reduction in cruise ship operations, an issue now under discussion following the recent announcement that the number of terminals in the Port of Barcelona will be reduced, could also affect air routes at the airport.

"Without cruise ships, many of those routes would not be viable," he said, referring particularly to flights between the United States and Canada, which he noted are "largely supported by cruise activity."

Serrano acknowledged that the restructuring of the cruise terminals has "positive aspects," such as innovation and improved connectivity, but also "less positive aspects," such as the reduction in the number of terminals.

Mar Pérez, cruise director at the Port of Barcelona, said that "the landscape will change" with the reduction, and pledged to "maintain a balance between the needs of the city and the comfort of cruise passengers."