The Economy of Catalonia

ence in emerging markets, especially North Africa and Latin America,
is growing every year. These markets could be consolidated, and the
influence of the Catalan economy there intensified, given the possibility
of independent Catalan diplomacy (it may be pointed out here that
Catalans make up around 3% of the Spanish diplomatic service), and
this would be perfectly compatible with continuing to maintain partnerships
on the basis of mutual benefit with the big Spanish companies
in regulated sectors.
Tourism, a landmark sector and the spearhead of the
Barcelona hub
The second pillar of today’s Catalan economy, after exports, is tourism.
This ability to attract foreign tourists is illustrated by the fact that 25%
of the nearly 58 million foreign visitors to Spain in 2012 came to Catalonia,
its top destination and also the one showing the most positive
trend in the period 2011-2012, with 10% growth. These figures demonstrate
the existence of a “commoditised” tourism (differentiated
only by price, like that of the Costa Brava or the Costa Daurada), but
also the explosion of brand Barcelona and growing diversification of
tourist products around the country, focused on themes other than the
traditional beach holidays: food and wine tourism, culture, adventure/
sports, meetings and so on.
Barcelona ranks as the number four destination for international tourists,
only behind the big three European capitals (London, Paris and Rome),
with nearly six million visitors, and is also the one that has seen the highest
growth between 2005 and 2012. Other figures for the tourist industry
reveal the consolidation of brand Barcelona and, to a lesser extend, brand
Catalonia as a whole. In 2012 Barcelona was visited by 2.4 million cruise
passengers, making the city the top destination in the world after Florida’s
three Caribbean ports (Miami, Port Canaveral and Port Everglades).
Forecasts for 2013 indicate that this figure is expected to reach 2.6 million,
equalling the record set in 2011. It should be added that one of the
positive externalities of cruises is the fact that they also open up a new
market for intercontinental flights, which has emerged in the last five
years with the start of direct flights to Chicago, Washington and Atlanta,
among others.
The position of an independent Catalonia in the international context 23