The Observatory of Tourism in Barcelona weekly updates of the Destination Barcelona tourism forecast report as of 23/10/2020:

• Due to the second wave of Covid-19 in Europe, several countries are adopting new internal restrictive measures to stop the increase of infection. In Catalonia, the Catalan government forced the restaurant sector to close and to serve only take-away from 16/10. This measure is just one of several restrictions that has been taken for at least 15 days.

• As for the internal European mobility, despite the borders are open, almost all EU countries maintain restrictive measures. Some of them have recommended not to visit Catalonia and / or Spain, other have imposed mandatory quarantines, PCR tests or other measures to passengers coming from Spain.

• Scheduled global flights during 19/10 week have been decreased by -47.0% year-on-year, which means a decrease of -0.6pp over the previous week. However, weekly capacity has remained virtually stable since July's last week. In Spain, the air capacity has dropped by -66.6%, which means a decrease of -1.9pp compared to last week.

• According to the latest Air Traffic Forecast Report for Barcelona Airport, reservations made in September for Barcelona Airport to fly during the upcoming months fell on average -86%. As for air capacity, it is expected to be maintained during the winter season and that there is a possible recovery in the 2021 summer scheduling season. (Watch the report webinar in Catalan here)

• The Google searches for Barcelona city and Destinaton Barcelona, as a tourist destination, from the spanish market have decreased over the last week. Most of the searches for both geographical areas keep coming from Catalonia.

• Over the last week (12/10-17/10), hotel reservations in Barcelona city have remained at a very low level. While three and two weeks ago, 18.4% of bookings had been made, last week, they were 15.0% (compared to all-time record high for January).

• Over that same week (12/10-17/10), the volume of hotel reservations in Destination Barcelona has kept downsizing. While three weeks ago, 40.4% of bookings had been made, two weeks ago, they were 38.9%, and last week, they were 23.0% (compared to all-time record high for January).

• The number of open cultural facilities in Barcelona city has dropped during the last week: 88 cultural facilities are being monitored and 7 out of 10 are open to the public. 

• On 21/10/2020, 133 hotels were open in Barcelona city with a total of 29,707 beds available. The Eixample, the Gothic Quarter, and Sant Martí are the districts with more available offer.

• Based on the new restrictions of the Catalan government, congresses, conventions and fairs were suspended on 16/10 for at least 15 days. However, there are 118 confirmed congresses for the upcoming years, 3 from now until the end of 2020.

Complete report: Destination Barcelona tourism forecast (23/10/20) (in Catalan)