The Rambla Observatory presents the first study of online reputation about La Rambla and its area of influence

• The Rambla Observatory, promoted by Friends of La Rambla in collaboration with the Barcelona City Council and GetYourGuide, presents a pioneering digital study on the reputation of Barcelona's most emblematic promenade.

• The report has been prepared based on the Online Reputation Index (iRON) model, developed by Vivential Value, which objectively interprets visitors' and users' opinions on their tourist experience and incorporates, for the first time, the use of artificial intelligence.

• The conclusions of this exercise allow us to reflect on the reality of La Rambla, the most visited public space in the city, and make improvement proposals for its future.

The Rambla Observatory, an initiative of the association Friends of La Rambla with the support of the Barcelona City Council and incorporating GetYourGuide, a leading company in travel experience bookings, as a strategic partner, has presented the first online reputational study of La Rambla and its area of influence. According to data from the Tourism Observatory in Barcelona City and Region, the promenade is the most visited public space in the city, resulting in hundreds of thousands of comments on social networks every year, related to both the promenade and the activities carried out there, mainly restaurants, accommodation, or tourist attractions.

The use of AI to measure online reputation

The report incorporates, for the first time, a massive qualitative analysis of visitors' opinions using generative artificial intelligence, based on a methodology using state-of-the-art language models designed by Vivential Value. Tens of thousands of online opinions published about La Rambla have been interpreted, providing key information about the promenade's visitor experience.

The methodology has allowed the identification and structuring of specific aspects, such as the impact of ongoing works, generating difficulties related to traffic, and the feeling of strolling through a construction site, affecting the visual aspects of the promenade. It has also identified the most valued aspects, such as the atmosphere, strategic location, street life, or the diverse range of activities, as well as the least valued aspects, such as insecurity or crowding.

Unprecedented data on tourist experiences in La Rambla

The project also includes an interactive viewer in PowerBI, facilitating access to the collected data and indicators. This tool allows us to understand opinions on La Rambla and its immediate surroundings, and correlate them with evaluations of the overall Barcelona.

Thanks to the collaboration of GetYourGuide, the study includes unprecedented information about ticket sales, visitor origin, seasonality, and types of experiences booked in La Rambla and Barcelona in general.

Among the analyzed data stand out the percentage of direct sales in  La Rambla and its area of influence; the origin of buyers, with United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and France as main markets; seasonality in purchases, with demand peaks in April, May, August, and October; or the average ticket value, around 35 euros, confirming the high economic value generated by tourism activities; and the types of products sold, with significant differences between the most sold around Rambla, tickets, shows, and maritime tours; and the city as a whole, with tickets, attraction tours, and day trips.

Ángel Díaz, Vice President of Friends of La Rambla and head of the Rambla Observatory, pointed out: "Through the evaluation of the situation, awareness, and joint work, this information must help us understand the reality of the promenade and, from Friends, devise proposals and lines of work, both with operators and with the administration. The goal is to achieve, among all, a progressive improvement in the reputation of La Rambla's establishments and the visitor experience."

Toni Bennasar, Regional Manager of GetYourGuide in Spain and Portugal, emphasized: "We believe that contributing to the first reputational study on La Rambla through the knowledge of activities carried out and the ratings and opinions of its visitors is a fundamental contribution in this moment of transformation of the promenade. As part of the collaboration with Friends, we have provided data that allows us to know what type of experiences visitors are looking for, when they book them and where they visit us from. The knowledge and analysis of this information are key to making proposals and helping make decisions and contribute, among all, to improving the tourist experience and coexistence in the heart of the city." 

A historic opportunity for La Rambla

The Rambla Observatory is part of the project 'La Rambla, a new model of Urban Tourism,' supported by the Barcelona City Council and GetYourGuide, a historic opportunity to rethink the future of this unique space. The Rambla Observatory, through studies like this, aims to offer new visions of La Rambla, based on rigorous data, which can serve as a basis for fostering dialogue among residents, operators, administration, and visitors, and propose sustainable and agreed-upon improvement actions.

This knowledge base will be complemented with other studies already developed by the Rambla Observatory and its partners, such as economic and tourist data provided by inAtlas-Informa and mobility sensors installed on the promenade. All this forms a strategic set of information that will allow proposing specific lines of work to improve the visitor experience and the reputation of the establishments in the area.