The Observatory of Tourism in Barcelona updates the Destination Barcelona tourism forecast report as of 05/03/2021. This report highlights the effects of Covid-19 on the tourism sector. 

Covid-19 restrictive measures

Covid-19 preventive measures continue despite the increasing number of worldwide vaccinations.

The entry measures to all passengers flying from Brazil, South Africa and United Kingdom, due to new variants of the virus are mantained in Spain. Moreover, passengers travelling from Brazil or South Africa have to quarantine upon their arrival. From the 08/03, passengers flying from Botswana, Comoros, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Peru, and Colombia will also have to quarantine.

On the other hand, the Ministry of Health has agreed to lock all the autonomous communities down during the Easter holidays, so that mobility will not be allowed between the different Spanish territories or outside them.

In Catalonia, from the 08/03 to the 14/03, the following measures will affect the tourism sector:

- Restaurants and bars: 30% of capacity on both the outside and the inside of the establishments. Opening hours from 7.30 am to 17 h. Take-away outside the opening hours will continue to be allowed.

- Professional events: congresses, corporate meetings, and incentives and workshops have been canceled

- Culture: 50% of capacity in cinemas, concert halls, museums and exhibition centers.

- Schools: bubble groups are allowed to go on an excursion and to stay overnight, even outside their region of residence

- Night curfew: from 10 pm to 6 am

- Region perimeter lockdown: it is not allowed to leave the region of residence

Source markets

European internal borders keep open but almost all EU countries maintain restrictive measures. Some of them have recommended not to visit Catalonia and/or Spain, others have imposed mandatory quarantines, PCR tests, or other measures to passengers coming from Spain.

The global airlines capacity during 01/03 week has been decreased by -41,4% year-on-year, while in Spain, by -79,1%. It is expected that, from late March, there will be a certain recovery in frequencies, although companies continue to readjust their offer from week to week.

The EU keeps discussing the possibility of introducing a vaccination certificate before the summer season that would ease travel measures for those who have been vaccinated or immunized.

Tourist offer and professional events

On 04/03/2021, 112 hotels with 27,025 beds were available in Barcelona city. The Eixample, the Gothic Quarter, and Sant Martí are the districts with more available offer.

74.7% of the cultural facilities in Barcelona city are open to the public. However, some of the most visited sightseeing places in Barcelona city keep temporarily closed (Camp Nou Experience, Tibidabo, and Casa Batlló).

As for the professional events, it must be highlighted that there are 101 confirmed congresses for the upcoming years.

Tourist demand

Over the last week, Google searches from Spain for Barcelona city have slightly increased, while in Destination Barcelona they have decreased. Most of the searches for both geographical areas keep coming from Catalonia.

Flight searches to Barcelona from Germany, UK, USA, Spain and France have kept registering YoY losses, althought lower than the previous weeks ones. The USA and Germany (-80%) have registered the highest YoY negative variations. 

The hotel bookings in Barcelona city over the last week (21/02-27/02) have remained stable: while two weeks ago, 26.6% of bookings had been made, last week, they were 26.4% (as compared with the peak of January 2020). Over the same week, the volume of hotel reservations in Destination Barcelona has been slightly lower: while two weeks ago, 38.1% of bookings have been made, last week, they were 36.7% (as compared with the peak of January 2020).

Destination Barcelona tourism forecast (05/03/2021)