FdA/BA International Tourism: Barcelona Destination Audit L4

This report presents a comprehensive tourism destination audit of Barcelona, a major European tourist hub. It begins with an overview of the city, highlighting its cultural significance, architectural landmarks by Antoni Gaudí, and its role as a host for events like the 1992 Summer Olympics. The report then describes the types of tourists attracted to Barcelona, including sports enthusiasts, nature lovers, and those interested in historical architecture, noting the impact of cruise tourism. The product portfolio of Barcelona focuses on its natural beauty, beaches, and vibrant culture. Accessibility is discussed, mentioning the main airport and public transportation options. The city's image as a lively, attractive destination with famous landmarks like La Rambla is also covered. The report identifies destination marketing organizations as responsible for tourism promotion. Positive impacts of tourism include economic development, job creation, and socio-cultural exchange, while negative impacts need to be addressed for sustainability. Finally, the report touches on future actions for sustainable tourism development in Barcelona. Desklib offers a wide range of solved assignments and study resources for students.

FdA / BA International Tourism Management
Successful Tourism Destinations – Level 4
Module Code: 1910
DESTINATION AUDITING
TOOLKIT
Name of Destination: Barcelona
Student Id number:
Introduction
A toolkit is a document or more interactive online source which enables the user to collect relevant
information on a subject, organise that information, and then use that information to make
conclusions and recommendations. These are used throughout the tourism industry. Individual
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organisations and destinations create their own toolkits. International organisations use them in
order to spread consistency in how information is used and to standardise decision-making.
For your assignment you should complete this toolkit and upload the final document to Canvas by
the hand in date for the assignment. To answer each section, you need to find evidence relating to
your chosen destination to support your answer. Your choice of destination will be confirmed by the
teaching team.
Please follow the suggested word count for each section and note the percentages relating to the
overall final grade. Please use the prompts also included in the toolkit. All the questions in this
toolkit will be covered throughout the lectures and seminar session. Please refer to the recordings
for each session and the assignment vodcast. Good luck with your assignment and enjoy the module.
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Table of Contents
1. Overview of your destination 4
2. Tourists who are attracted to the destination 5
3. Product portfolio for the destination 6
4. Accessibility and supporting product 7
5. Image of the Destination 8
6. Who is responsible for tourism? 9
7. Positive impacts of Tourism 10
8. Negative impacts of Tourism 11
9. Future Actions 12
10.Conclusions 13
11.References 14
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1. Please give an overview of your destination (200 words)
Barcelona is the beautiful destination which is categorised as the capital of the Catalonia
region which is situated in Spain. It is renowned ads the most essential tourism destination
in whole Europe as millions of people visit every year in the city ( Vayá, et.al 2018). It is
seventh most popular urban area which covers 5,624,000 in year 2021 people as the size of
that destination. The people of the city speak Spanish and Catalan but the young generation
generally speaks English language in order to communicate. It is considered as the
important city after merging with Kingdom of Aragon. The city is famous for building
which were designed by the Antoni Gaudi, hosting 1992 summer Olympics along with
world class conferences, 19th century modernist architecture, exposition and other
international tournament. It has great numbers of the museums and consists of many parks
and beaches in the Poble Nou. It has world class cuisines, good climatic condition. The
Barcelona is situated near the sea as well as mountain area with gorgeous scenery and
beautiful lifestyle which give unique environmental and cultural vibes. it contribute
equally in gross domestic production of the country as it is tourist destination and many
visitors visit in the city to enjoy or enhance the experience ( Stanchev, 2018).
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2. Describe the Tourists who are attracted to your destination (350
words)
The Barcelona is the beautiful destination because of those millions of the people prefers to
visit every year from different countries. It is the sport oriented city which attracts largen
numbers of visitors. As the Barcelona hosted Olympics games it gives assistance in
appearing on top destination map to visit in the city. People actually visit the city who
loved to explore and love nature as well as Olympics (Moss, Gruben and Moss, 2019). As
the days are passing the tourism sector is growing in the city rapidly. It can be considered
as the city is having over tourism every year as most of the cruise passenger spends hours
in the beautiful city. In the summer season and at the time of easter most of the people visit
in the city that is considered as the peak time of tourism in the capital city. The most of the
people are being motivated by the games and the football tournament took place in the city.
Along with the people who are interested in various adventures activates visit in the place.
The sport spirt of individual encourages them to visit at the place which host the Olympics
and love to adept different culture. Along with that the city attracts those people who prefer
to spend time on beeches or at mountain site and interested in exclusive historical
architecture. The cruise passenger are the main target of the city which highly contribute in
the increasing the scale of economic growth of the country. The city convers northeast
coast of the Iberian peninsula which is facing the Mediterranean sea. The large numbers of
Jewish community people considered Barcelona as the home. As per the record approx.
62% of the residents of the city were born in the Catalonia and rest of the population were
belongs to the other places of the country. The people of the city are well educated and
highly qualified. As the city is having the presence of biggest brand that is Zara the people
of the country prefer to buy exclusive, attracting and unique products from the marketplace
(Goodwin, 2019).
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3. Discuss the product portfolio for your destination (300
words)
.
This city is leading the tourism sector amazingly because of the beauty of the city apart
from that the sculpture and knowledge behind whimsical modernism is the main reason the
people love to visit the destination. Another reason is the renowned building designed by
the famous personality Antoni Gaudi who designs the building in completely unique style.
The main product of thew Barcelona is the nature and the culture of the city. The city is
surrounded fully with the landscapes and beaches which invite huge numbers of tourism in
the capital city of Catalonian (Forgas-Coll, 2016). It has the long sandy beaches to relax
and a place where the people consume the loveliness of nature. The citizen of the city
living the best life because of the good weather condition and mild climate. Along with that
the culture delivers the best quality life to domestic as well as international visitors. The
cultural activity in the city throughout the year for example at every weekend the people
celebrate, enjoy every festival and traditional for instance, human tower as well as night
clubbing. Due to all of this activity many visitors prefer to stay or relax in the city for long
period of the time. Whereas many other people avoid visiting the city due to huge crowd as
millions of people visit there to explore speciality of the city. Due to Covid-19 the tourism
sector of the destination is facing difficulty in generating profit as the government
announced lockdown in many countries. Beside that the people of different region started
avoiding to visit in other crowded city liker Barcelona in order to avoid spread of the virus
and become health conscious. The scale of the tourism sector decrease but have possibility
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to increase completely in upcoming years
4. Please comment on the Accessibility and Supporting product
in the destination
Accessibility (100 Words)
In Barcelona there is only one airport which is named as EI de Liobregat Aeropuerto.
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Moreover, there are two more airports nearby the city which is far from the area Barcelona.
The public transport like metro, trams and buses are the easiest way to access the
destination (Gascó-Hernandez, 2018). The large number of tourist and visitor prefer to
travel with the cruise ship. Mainly the tourism sector is covered by the cruise passengers
who are in millions. The Barcelona cope with the over tourism in the city. The responsible
members of the city restrict the numbers of the visitor in order to manage the situation in
effective as well as efficient manner.
Supporting product (100 Words)
The Barcelona is the place where the large numbers of people due to that there are many
places to stay like hotels, rented room and apartment for the people who belong to different
places all over the world. The city receives positive feedbacks from the visitors and tourist
as the city have capability of working on the satisfaction of tourist.
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5. Please describe the image of the destination (200 words)
Barcelona is one of the most popular destination attracting thousands of visitors. It is best
known for its favourable weather conditions, attractive beaches, lively nightlife, and tasty
cuisine and famous for its culture and heritage. Barcelona is famous for its beautiful
seaside city that flaunts the beauty and lifestyle.
Among the popular tourist places in the Barcelona and the heart of the Barcelona’s social
life is found in the La Rambla. It is a wide tree shaded path that divides the Old Town and
is one of the popular tourist places. It stretches from the Plaça de Catalunya, where the
beautiful Romanesque 12th century Convent Of Santa Anna stands. The street has spacious
Pedestrian sidewalks, lined with shops (Alvarado, 2020). The road is surrounded by
various restaurants and outdoor cafes so that tourist can enjoy the outside view making the
most famous favourite place in the city.
Many local people and tourist are found here and at night groups of family and friends
gather here at La Rambla to enjoy the beautiful and lively ambience.There is another
famous monument in La Rambla is the UNESCO- listed Palau Güell, a mension which was
designed in 1886 by famous Antoni Gaudi. The building is adorned with valuable textiles
and décor and furniture created by the Gaudi.
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6. Who is responsible for tourism in your destination? (100 words)
Destination marketing organizations in Barcelona are set up by the professional who
support and promotes place of the country in order to increase the number of tourist and
visitors. These marketing organisations focuses on the tourism marketing and providing
services and is considered as an important tourism organisations and are responsible for
long term development and marketing the place through travel and tourism((Vieira et.al)).
The company offers a wide range of destination management services to the organizers of
the seminars exhibition etc. It is observed that the success of any business depends upon
the promotion of the products and services that the organisation offers. They provide
variety of services in Barcelona which includes incentive programmes and organizing team
building events etc.
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7. What are the main positive impacts of tourism in the
destination? (350 words)
Tourism activity has played a very important role in the economic development of
Barcelona. It has contributed to income and has also resulted in the generating employment
in the country. The importance of tourism on the economic development is highlighted
through contribution to GDP and raising the job opportunities. There has been rise in GDP
by14% and employment rate by 11% as there has been drastic increase in the number of
tourist in Barcelona (Zervaet.al, 2019). Since the economic impact is important for the
tourism in Barcelona, The policy makers should focus on settling the economic benefits
with the sustainability. The economic stability helps to bring people together and also
supports the communities through rise in the wealth within Barcelona.
Tourism not only affects the economy but also enhances the socio- culture of the
Barcelona. The social impact is related to the influence of tourism on the tradition,
individual, lifestyles and community structure.it helps in the development and
sustainability of the culture, tradition and religious beliefs and increase interest of the local
people has helps in preserving the natural and culture of the tourist destination in Barcelona
(Alvarez-Sousa, 2018). One of the positive impacts that tourism enables social and
cultural interactions within the society and also helps in the economic development through
creation of job opportunities.
The environment is the surrounding atmosphere for any country. It is very important to lay
emphasis on the surroundings in order to attract more tourists to the destination. If the local
people regular plant trees and government and organization should invest in improving the
sitting areas, proper sanitation and drinking water will attract more number of tourists as
facilities are provided to the visitors. Moreover, to attract more tourist emphasis should
give on preserving the monuments and heritage structures (Sanchez del Rio-Vazquez, et.al,
2019). One of the steps that can be taken to preserve the to provide variety of new facilities
such as roads are reconstructed and garbage disposal should be constructed so that less
garbage is dumped on road which helps to preserve the environment which will help to
attract tourists.
There can be both positive and negative impact of tourism but it is the responsibility of the
government to take various steps and necessary measures to protect the nature and culture
which will help to attract more number of tourists and contributes to the economic
development of the country as well.
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8. What are the main negative impacts of tourism in the
destination? (350 words)
Tourism has both positive and negative impact on the economy. Economic leakage in
tourism sector means when the money spent in the country does not remain in the country
thus limiting the economic benefits to the host country. The other is the cost incurred by
the government in the development of tourists places can cost a great deal of money to the
tax payers and the government (Horváth, 2018). Various costs are incurred in the
construction and improvements of the airports, roads and other infrastructural facilities
which are costly. Increase in the demand for goods and services from the tourists often
results in the rise in the prices which negatively impacts the local people and they will be
forced to pay the prices.
Socio- culture is related to the exchange of traditional and ideas but sometimes there are
cultural clashes as local people and tourists have different cultures and lifestyle and many a
sometimes it is observed that tourists have different lifestyle such as they prefer spending
and also misbehave with the local people which creates a bad impressions and negatively
affects the community (Akbulut, and Ekin, 2019). Every person has their own customs and
traditions and many a times visitors do not respect their customs and fail to respect their
traditions which causes irritation in the local people.
Protection and preservation of the nature and cultural heritage is very important in order to
attract the tourists but there are various negative impacts of tourism which can destroy the
beauty of nature. This includes the depletion of the local natural resources and also
increases the pollution such as air, land and noise pollution such as tourists vehicles
entering causes lots of distress on the wildlife in the city (Seraphin, et.al, 2019). It is
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always seen that due to the wastage and overuse of the natural resources results in the
scarcity in other places. While constructing the hotels and other facilities lead to increased
sewage pollution also. The leakage of water often spread at the tourists’ attractions at
Barcelona damaging the flora and fauna. It also results in the destruction of the ecosystem
so keeping in mind it is very important to preserve the natural resources and use proper
precautions which avoids destruction of the nature .
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9. Future Actions – Suggest two future actions that will improve
the destination (300 words)
In order to improve the destination and to attract more number of tourists, the government
should take various steps to ensure that more numbers of visitor are coming. The
importance of planning in the development and improvement of tourism is related to the
activities which aim at creating a balance between the activities related to the tourism and
preserving the local environment. The government should focus on those areas where
benefits can be yield and environment is also not harmed. The government has taken
various steps to improve the tourist destination places.
The government should focus on diversifying of the tourist places in Barcelona such as
traditional sight-seeing tour, the places of cultural tourism interest and monuments by
focusing on rapidly increasing tourism market and also paying attention to the impacts on
environmental and socio- culture.
The government should also focus on target market and audience and make marketing
strategies that involves the local authority should identify the target market and plan
strategies according to it. This step taken by the government will help to improve and also
attract large number of visitors. If the government feels that more number of people is
attracted towards adventure, then keeping this in mind they can make developments by
developing and providing wide number of facilities such as private Ferrari driving
experience etc. which will attract more number of visitors which enjoy such adventures.
The main aim of the government is only the development and improvement of the tourist
destinations but they also have the responsibility that the beauty of the destination and have
negative impacts on the economy, culture and environment. It is not only the duty of the
government, but it is the responsibility of the local people to respect and maintain the
cultural heritage of the destination. Along with this, it is the duty of the visitors not to
waste and destroy the nature and also contribute towards improving and preserving the
environment.
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10.Final thoughts - Do you think that your destination is
successful? (150 words)
Barcelona is considered as the beautiful destination and is renowned as the best tourists’
destinations in Europe. The city is famous for its architectural designs by the famous
Antoni Gaudi. The destination attracts numbers of visitors every year with the increase in
the tourism sector. Most of the tourist is attracted toward the games and the football
tournaments which takes place in Barcelona. Barcelona has a most beautiful and popular
social hub which attracts large numbers of local people as well as tourists. It is a perfect
destination for the tourists as it comprises of the beaches, monuments and various
adventures which is perfect for the holiday maker. As the scope of tourism increasing,
government is also taking various steps and measures to improve the destination places and
diversifying its areas by adding more facilities for the visitors by keeping in mind the
preservation of nature as well.
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10. Provide a list of references used in this assignment
Akbulut, O. and Ekin, Y., 2019. Perceptions of tourism-related non-governmental
organization (NGO) managers in Antalya. Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism
Themes.
Alvarado, A.C., 2020. La génesis del locus siniestro en la Barcelona del cine de Jaume
Balagueró. L'Atalante. Revista de estudios cinematográficos. (30). pp.75-88.
Alvarez-Sousa, A., 2018. The problems of tourist sustainability in cultural cities: Socio-
political perceptions and interests management. Sustainability. 10(2) p.503.
Forgas-Coll, 2016 Urban destination loyalty drivers and cross-national moderator effects:
The case of Barcelona. Tourism Management. 33(6). Pp.1309-1320.
Gascó-Hernandez, M., 2018. Building a smart city: Lessons from
Barcelona. Communications of the ACM. 61(4). pp.50-57.
Goodwin, H., 2019. 9. Barcelona–crowding out the locals: a model for tourism
management?. In Overtourism (pp. 125-138). De Gruyter Oldenbourg.
Horváth, D.B., 2018. A new era for urban tourism? The case of Venice,
Italy. Almatourism-Journal of Tourism, Culture and Territorial Development.9(17). pp.13-
32.
Moss, S.E., Gruben, K.H. and Moss, J., 2019. An empirical test of the Olympic tourism
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legacy. Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure and Events. 11(1). pp.16-34.
Sanchez del Rio-Vazquez, et.al, 2019. Relevance of social, economic, and environmental
impacts on residents’ satisfaction with the public administration of
tourism. Sustainability, 11(22), p.6380.
Seraphin, et.al,2019. Limitations of Trexit (tourism exit) as a solution to
overtourism. Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes.
Stanchev, R., 2018. The most affected European destinations by over-tourism.
Vayá, et.al 2018. Economic impact of cruise activity: the case of Barcelona. Journal of
Travel & Tourism Marketing. 35(4). pp.479-492.
Vieira et.al, Public investment, competitiveness and development: A study into Brazilian
tourism destinations. Revista de Administração Pública. 52. pp.899-917.
Zervaet.al,2019. Tourism-philia versus tourism-phobia: residents and destination
management organization’s publicly expressed tourism perceptions in
Barcelona. Tourism Geographies. 21(2). pp.306-329.
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