The UrbanTur 2022 report by the Alliance for Excellence in Tourism, Exceltur, revealed that Madrid ranks above Barcelona as Spain’s most competitive city in tourism. A total of 22 Spanish urban destinations were analyzed in the report, which also revealed that Valencia ranked third.
As expressed by this association through a statement, Barcelona lost the first place it held during 2013 and 2016. Madrid ranked second in the latter comparison.
UrbanTur 2022: How has Madrid overtaken Barcelona in the ranking?
The report highlighted that Madrid was a pioneering city in its commitment to digital marketing. Since it was in charge of generating multimedia content for tourism promotion, it has gained many followers in social networks and managed to generate a brand image based on the dynamism, vitality and lifestyle that the city offers.
In addition, it should be noted that the capital city has been committed to “excellence and leadership in meeting tourism. And it has done so through the management team of the Madrid Convention Bureau. But, in addition, because of the impulse that the private sector is giving in this sense. For this reason, the capital has been able to position itself in this aspect.
During 2022 Americans led tourism in Barcelona
Ranking of the most touristic cities in Spain
The UrbanTur 2022 ranking of the most touristic cities revealed and compared for each case the best local policies applied to tourism. It also ranked the cities according to 64 indicators. As mentioned, the first, second and third places are held by Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia, respectively.
San Sebastian ranked fourth, followed by Seville and Palma de Mallorca in fifth and sixth place, respectively. The latter cities have improved one position from six years ago. In seventh place was Malaga, which lost two positions.
The ranking is followed by Bilbao, Santiago de Compostela, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Valladolid, Gijón, Zaragoza, Santander, Granada, Salamanca, La Coruña, Alicante, Murcia, Burgos and León.
It is worth mentioning that, of these cities, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Valladolid and Cordoba advanced one position with respect to the previous year (2016). A Coruña was the only one to move up two positions.
Finally, it must be said that Exceltur emphasized in its press release that the UrbanTur 2022 report does not necessarily indicate that the cities that occupy the top positions are synonymous with optimal management. Similarly, the cities that occupy the last places are not necessarily associated with poor management. Since, “it is the average level between all of them that marks the different scales in the positions”.
