The Observatory of Tourism in Barcelona weekly updates of the Destination Barcelona tourism forecast report as of 16/10/2020:

• 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 forces the restaurant sector to close and to serve only take-away from 16/10. This measure is just one of several restrictions that will be 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 12/10 week have been decreased by -46.4% year-on-year, which means a decrease of -0.1pp over the previous week. However, weekly capacity has remained virtually stable since July's last week. In Spain, the air capacity has dropped by -64.7% compared to the same week last year, which means a slight increase compared to last week (-0.1pp).

• The Google searches for Barcelona city, as a tourist destination, from the spanish market have slightly increased over the last week. However, the interest for Barcelona Destination has remained stable. Most of the searches for both geographical areas keep coming from Catalonia.

• Over the last week (05/10-11/10), hotel reservations in Barcelona city have remained at a very low level. While three weeks ago, 17.5% of bookings had been made, two weeks ago, they were 18.4%, and last week, they were 18.2% (compared to all-time record high for January).

• Over the week (05/10-11/10), the volume of hotel reservations in Destination Barcelona has kept downsizing. While three weeks ago, 43.7% of bookings had been made, two weeks ago, they were 40.4%, and last week, they were 39.4% (compared to all-time record high for January).

• The number of open cultural facilities in Barcelona city remains stable: 88 cultural facilities are being monitored and 3 out of 4 are open to the public. In the last weeks, responding to the current context, their opening hours have been adapted.

• On 08/10/2020, 136 hotels were open in Barcelona city with a total of 30,044 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 are suspended for at least 15 days. However, there are 119 confirmed congresses for the upcoming years, 4 from now until the end of 2020.

Complete report: Destination Barcelona tourism forecast (16/10/20) (in Catalan)