THE
TWO
CAT

How tourism and Airbnb split CATALONIA into two different worlds

By Laura Aragó, Sara Chodosh,
Rocío Márquez, and Ànnia Monreal

Coast or inland. Coca of fruit or coca of crackling. 'Charnego' or 'catalanet'. Catalonia is made up of two worlds, and nowhere moreso than in tourism. Some 19.2 million tourists visited the region in 2018, and staying in upwards of 73,850 rooms offered on Airbnb, the largest shared accommodation platform.

Barcelona is famously overrun with tourists, but it's not alone. There are many spots plagued by crowds, even as some municipalities are virtually untouched. Here, we analyze what Airbnb tourism looks like outside the capital.

Of the 947 municipalities in Catalonia, 87% have at least one Airbnb listing. The rest, 119, do not appear on the platform (most belong to Terres de Lleida).

Catalonia is divided into nine tourist "brands": Barcelona, ​​Costa Barcelona, ​​Costa Brava, Costa Daurada, Paisatges de Barcelona, ​​Pirineus, Terres de l’Ebre, Terres de Lleida and Val d’Aran. Costa Brava has the most listings on Airbnb.

Leaving out Barcelona, ​​Salou, ​​Roses and Lloret de Mar are the three towns with the most Airbnbs.

Begur, and Pals are the ones with the highest density of tourist apartments compared to the number of dwellings.

Catalonia is a land of sun and beaches for tourists. The coastline monopolizes the supply of shared accommodation — Costa Brava has the most municipalities with high rates of Airbnbs. The Pyrenees has the next highest spot, while in the Western part of the region Airbnbs are scarce.

One of the aspects of Airbnb that's drawn the most criticism—the concentration of apartments in a few hands—isn't necessarily true in Catalonia. On average, each person owns 1.47 apartments or rooms (the average in Barcelona is 1.82), although in some municipalities it is possible to speak of 'Airbnb landlords.' In Salàs de Pallars and Foradada, each there are seven Airbnb listings per person. The numbers come down only slightly to five for Cabó, Conesa and Ogassa and to four for Castellfollit del Boix, Montferri, and Vilalba dels Arcs.

Beaches seems to be the common factor amongst the most touristy municipalities, while aging towns dominate the list of spots with no Airbnbs. Els Omellons, Bovera, La Palma d'Ebre, El Cogul, and Algerri, five of the 10 Catalan towns with the highest percentage of people over 65 years of age (between 37% and 39% of its population), do not appear on Airbnb. Two of them, Els Omellons and Bovera, do not have any tourist accommodations.

The two Catalonias are quite distinct, but equally worth visiting—if only to escape the crowds.

This project is one part of the final master's thesis for the Master's degree in Visual Tools to Empower Citizens, run by the University of Girona and the Visualizaiton for Transparency Foundation.

Made by: Laura Aragó, Sara Chodosh, Rocío Márquez, and Ànnia Monreal.

MVTEC mentors: Apple Chan, Carla Garcia, and Karma Peiró.