Job opportunities
20,230 permanent and 41,450 temporary jobs generated (1986-1993).
Economic impact
Direct impact: 12.987 million €*
Indirect impact: 21.641 million €
*€ constant at 2000 rates
Skills development
The Barcelona’92 Games left a knowledge or intellectual legacy to the city, which has capitalised on its sports management know-how, which includes new skills, know-how, expertise, methods and tools. Barcelona has become established as one of Europe’s sporting capitals and boasts facilities and services to host international competitions in multiple sports. Sport events have been placed as one of the strategic issues in the city sports policy.
Another example of human capacity is the creation of technological companies or the development and establishment of new forms of cooperation amongst stakeholders.
City showcasing
Barcelona among the top 5 European cities
(The European Cities Marketing. Benchmarking report. 2012–2013)
Tourism destination
Tourism was one of the most important direct economic growth sectors of the Olympic Games, and continues to be one of the pillars of both Barcelonas and Catalonias economies. This is one of the legacies of Olympic Barcelona.
Regarding the number of hotel beds, Barcelona’s situation one year before the Olympic Games was the same as Atlanta’s, and lower than other Olympic cities such as Seoul and Sydney. Two years after the mega event, the number of hotel beds in Barcelona was four times higher than in Sydney and Atlanta, and was twice as high as the South Korean capital (Brunet 2011).
In terms of the number of visitors, Barcelona’s margin of growth was much higher than the other three Olympic cities. Barcelona’s geographical position also helps to explain why there was an explosion of tourism in the city. Its historical and cultural offerings, its climate and its combined offerings throughout Catalan territory between the mountains and the beach help to understand the city’s tourism ranking, which the Barcelona’92 Olympic Games are considered to have definitively triggered.
In short, while the Olympic Games led to a transformation of the productive fabric beyond tourism, Barcelona continues to be an internationally recognised year-round tourist destination, be it for leisure or for business (conferences, fairs, etc.).
Number of tourists and overnights stays in Barcelona Hotels (1990-2012)
