The Observatory of Tourism in Barcelona updates the Destination Barcelona tourism forecast report as of 25/03/2022. This report highlights the effects of Covid-19 on the tourism sector.

Current Covid-19 restrictions in Catalonia

In Catalonia, until 31/03/22:

• Catering services: 100% capacity. A distance of 1.5m between tables must be kept. Dance activities are allowed with facemask. 
• Shops: 100% capacity. 
• Concerts, cinemas, theatres, auditoriums, circus tents, and similar spaces: 100% capacity. Activities with standing attendants and dance activities are allowed with facemask.
• Sports: 100% capacity. Sectors of 10,000 people outoors and 5,000 indoors must be established.
• Trade fairs, conventions, and congresses: allowed at 100% capacity.
• Nightlife: 100% capacity. Covid certificates are not required.
• Use of facemask: mandatory both in public use places or open to the public places, both indoors and outdoors.
• Ventilation and crowds control: any activity must be carried out guaranteeing a good ventilation and organizational measures to control crowds.

Source markets

The EU Digital COVID certificate is operational. In Spain, the entrance of passengers from EU countries (or zones) with risk is allowed if one of the following is presented:

1. Vaccination certificate

2. Diagnosis certificate

3. Recovery certificate

The rest of EU passengers, as well as no risk intercontinental countries passengers and are accepted without any certificate. 

On the other hand, passatgers who travel for non-essential reasons from risk intercontinental countries with a vaccination or a diagnosis certificate are also accepted.

Effects of the Russia-Ukraine conflict

Before the pandemic, Russia and Ukraine as source markets represented a share of around 2.5% in Destination Barcelona. Services such as Tax Free, shopping tourism and certain luxury segments will be particularly affected by this crisis.

The online reputation of European destinations, especially those bordering the conflict, fell with the outbreak of the conflict, mainly in outbound markets in North America. However, this decline has not reached the same levels as those experienced at the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis.

The restrictions imposed on Russia are accelerating the inflation, which has led to a downward revision of EU economic growth and it could affect consumers' savings.

However, air capacity and air demand remained quite stable and demand was only impacted at an intercontinental level at the beginning of the conflict.

Transportation offer

The forecasts show an increase in the number of seats operated worldwide through the next weeks, altough below prepandemic levels. In June 2022, the air capacity is expected to reach -7% compared to the same period in 2019. However, it should be reminded that airlines continue to readjust their flight schedules week after week. In Spain, during this week, the air capacity has stood at -16.4% compared to the same week in 2019. At Barcelona Airport, 143 routes, 27 of them intercontinental, are currently operating.

During the following week, 10 cruise ships are leaving or making a stopover at Barcelona Port. In April about 81 cruises will operate in the city, which will mean the start of the peak season. In May and in October, the maximum number of boats will be registered.

Tourist offer and professional events

By the end of February 2022, 322 hotels and 63,532  bed supplies were open in Barcelona city. As for the culture offer, 95,5% of the 89 monitored cultural facilities in Barcelona city are working.

There are currently 161 congresses confirmed for the upcoming years, 134 in 2022. In the meanwhile, about 100 applications are open until 2027.

Tourist demand

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

From 09/03/22 to15/03/22, the Barcelona flights and accommodation searches achieved their best positioning in Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom. Destination Barcelona ranked 9th in searches of accommodation and 6th in searches of flights in the ranking of international destinations worldwide.

Finally, from 13/03/22 to 19/03/22, hotel reservations in Barcelona city stood, on average, at 86.0% compared to the series peak, which was in February 2022. These levels were lower than those of the previous week (92.3%) and the lead time stood at 29 days. In the Barcelona region, bookings were made 26 days in advance and stood at 80.4% compared to series peak, which was (February 2022), higher than those of the previous week, at 62.3%. Concerning their origin, international bookings exceeded domestic ones in both Barcelona city (70.0%) and Barcelona region (54.5%).

Destination Barcelona tourism forecast (25/03/2022)