The Observatory of Tourism in Barcelona updates the Destination Barcelona tourism forecast report as of 05/02/2021. This report highlights the effects of Covid-19 on the tourism sector. 

Covid-19 restrictive measures

Despite the increasing number of worldwide vaccinated people, Covid-19 keeps causing restrictive measures.

Spain has tightened the entry measures to all those passengers flying from Brazil, South Africa and the United Kingdom, due to new variants of the virus, until mid-February.

In Catalonia, from 08/02 to 21/02, some of the restrictive measures affecting the tourism sector will be modified:

- Bars and restaurants: larger opening hours during breakfast and lunch services (until 10.30 am and 4.30 pm, respectively)

- Perimeter lockdown: region lockdown instead of municipality lockdown

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.

Since 01/02/21, France is requiring a negative PCR test to travelers on their arrival, even those coming overland.

The EU is also considering to require a negative PCR test to all those countries (also in the EU) exceeding a cumulative incidence of 500 cases per 100.000 inhabitants over a 14-day period.

The global airlines capacity during 25/01 week has been decreased by -49.9% year-on-year, while in Spain, by -77.5%. It is expected that, from March, there will be a certain recovery in frequencies, although companies continue to readjust their offer from week to week..

Tourist offer and professional events

On 04/01/2021, 111 hotels with 26,626 beds were available in Barcelona city. The Eixample, the Gothic Quarter, and Sant Martí are the districts with more available offer.

75.9% 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 102 confirmed congresses for the upcoming years.

Tourist demand

Google searches from Spain for Barcelona city have remained stable over the last week, but those for Destination Barcelona have increased. 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 decreasing. The UK (-89%) has registered the highest YoY loss. 

The hotel bookings in Barcelona city over the last week (25/01-31/01) have increased: while two weeks ago, 16.1% of bookings had been made, last week, they were 20.9% (as compared with the peak of January 2020). Over the same week, the volume of hotel reservations in Destination Barcelona has been higher too: while two weeks ago, 17.9% of bookings have been made, last week, they were 26.4% (as compared with the peak of January 2020).

Destination Barcelona tourism forecast (05/02/2021)