Lorraine Williamson
The argument over tourism in Catalonia has moved on. This is no longer a simple clash between “pro-tourism” and “anti-tourism” voices.
The real question now is harder — and more useful. What kind of growth is Catalonia getting from tourism, and who benefits from it?
That shift matters because tourism remains one of the region’s biggest economic engines, accounting for around 14% of GDP and 12.4% of employment, according to reporting on the current debate. But as pressure rises in Barcelona and other hotspots, business groups, economists, and public institutions are arguing over whether the model is creating enough value, productivity and pay.
The pressure point is not just visitor numbers
For years, tourism policy arguments often centred on one visible issue: too many people in the same places at the same time.
That still matters, especially in Barcelona. But the latest discussion in Catalonia goes further. A recent intervention from Cercle d’Economia has helped push the debate towards the economics underneath the crowds: whether the sector is still growing mainly through volume — more visitors, more stays, more strain — rather than stronger productivity and higher-value output.
In plain terms, critics are asking whether Catalonia is adding activity faster than it is adding quality.
Jobs matter — but so do wages
This is where the debate becomes politically and socially uncomfortable. Tourism creates and supports a huge number of jobs, and that is precisely why calls for change are so contested.
At the same time, pay data underlines why the model is under scrutiny. The Generalitat’s labour observatory reported an average gross annual salary of €23,619.9 in Catalonia’s tourism sector in 2023, around 20.4% below the average in the wider services sector.
That gap does not erase tourism’s importance. It does, however, strengthen the argument that employment volume alone is no longer enough as a measure of success.
Barcelona is driving the conversation — but Catalonia is not one market
One reason the public argument often becomes messy is that “Catalonia tourism” gets discussed as if the region were a single destination with a single problem.
It isn’t. In Barcelona, overtourism, housing pressure and neighbourhood tensions dominate the political conversation. In much of the Costa Brava and Costa Daurada, tourism is not a side issue but a backbone industry tied directly to local business survival, municipal income and seasonal employment.
That makes blunt solutions risky. A strategy designed for central Barcelona may be damaging if applied without nuance to coastal municipalities with fewer alternatives.
Business leaders say the model is already changing
Tourism representatives are not simply defending the status quo. A key part of their response is that the sector has already been moving, gradually, towards a more value-led model.
That argument is supported by recent reporting and official data trends cited in the debate: visitors are spending more, and some business groups point to a lower tourism share of Barcelona’s GDP than before the pandemic as evidence that the economy is diversifying rather than becoming more tourism-dependent.
This does not mean the tension has disappeared. It means both sides are now using “transformation” language — but they disagree on pace, priorities and proof.
The bigger economic question sits outside tourism
There is a trap in this debate: expecting tourism alone to solve problems that belong to the wider productive model.
Even critics of the current system generally acknowledge that Catalonia cannot simply “switch off” a sector with this level of economic weight and employment impact. The longer-term challenge is whether higher-value sectors — technology, advanced services, knowledge-intensive activity and parts of industry — can scale fast enough to rebalance the economy without hollowing out jobs in the process.
That is why the most serious version of this discussion is not “less tourism”. It is better tourism, alongside stronger non-tourism growth.
What will decide the next phase
Catalonia’s tourism model debate is becoming more mature for one reason: it is now asking better questions.
Not just how many visitors arrive. Not just how full the hotels are. But whether the sector can keep generating jobs while improving wages, reducing pressure on space and lifting value per visitor.
That balance — economic muscle, social legitimacy and long-term sustainability — will shape the next phase of Catalonia’s economy more than any headline figure on arrivals.