Chinese tourism in Barcelona. Key elements of a recent phenomenon

© 2015, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona. All rights reserved. Chinese tourism has been introduced in Europe in recent years. Chinese tourism stands out for its sustained growth capacity, the spending capacity of the tourists and their interest in cultural heritage as well as in visiting established European destinations. Although Chinese tourism is a kind of minority tourism in terms of number of tourists, the municipal tourism administration of Barcelona and the press have already announced the importance of Chinese tourism in the city. Using data drawn from our research on Chinese tour operator offerings and an analysis of the Chinese blogosphere, this paper attempts to provide further insight on Chinese tourism and how Barcelona is perceived as a tourism destination.