And because its people attract tourists, it is frequently written about in books, its locality often described and romanticized.
The founding of the city began with the Roman occupation in the First Century B.C, who imposed walls and as a result, for a long period of time, separated villages from the walled area which is actually a part of the city. As of late, the different Catalonian countries united and pushed forth the rise of Barcelona as a tourist capital.
The Olympic Games has a remarkable effect on the city, and it is because of this sports event extravaganza that the city has built its heritage around sports. Because of the successful staging of the Olympic Games as the destination city and host, the government was able to promote Barcelona and made it one of the top destinations for travel whether for business or personal time. Together with this rise in tourist visits, so did Barcelona have a Hotel Plan, where numerous hotels were built to house tourists from all over the world.
Up to this day, Barcelona has a count of 534 hotels with different hotel star ratings. The hotels are categorized under bread and breakfast, best value, family, luxury, trendy and vacation rentals (tripadvisor.com). This outstanding boost in hotel availability and performance is a direct signifier that the demands of accommodations have steadily increased over the years.
Because booking and travelling has been made easier through online marketing, more and more tourists find it hassle free to confirm reservations over the internet. This has played a big role towards attaining the Record Year for 2011. Since 2005, visitor counts to Barcelona continued to rise (ehotelier.com) and 2010 saw the double digit increase, leading to outstanding performance in 2011.
Together with the contemporary architecture and a unique immersive experience being offered by the city itself, these factors create an overall package for the tourist to remember Barcelona. And because the result of returns depends on the good experiences of a tourist, so does the marketing spread also through shared experiences and word-of-mouth. The combined efforts of tourism authorities, smart campaigning and the local people and their hospitality in bringing more tourists in Barcelona has strengthened the industry in many ways, long since the biggest sports event took place.
Because there is strength in numbers, so do memorable experiences of the city and its activities have when it comes to a unified effort in accommodating tourists well. Barcelona has proven its abilities as the City of Marvels. And she just might bring in more curious visitors over the years to come.
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