The Observatory of Tourism in Barcelona updates the Destination Barcelona tourism forecast report as of 16/04/2021. This report highlights the effects of Covid-19 on the tourism sector. The main changes of this report can be found on the tourist offer and the tourist demand sections.

Covid-19 restrictive measures

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

In Catalonia, until the 26th of April, the following measures will affect the tourism sector:

- Restaurants and bars: 30% of capacity on the inside and 100% on the outside of the establishments. Opening hours from 7.30 am to 17 h. Take-away outside the opening hours will continue to be allowed.

- Commerce: 30% of capacity on shops of less than 800m².

- 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 forbidden to leave the region of residence, even for bubble groups.

Several Autonomous Communities keep applying perimeter lockdowns. However, the Spanish government has announced the ending of the state of alarm on 09/05/21.

Source markets

European internal borders keep open but almost all EU countries maintain restrictive measures. 

The entry measures to all passengers flying from Brazil and South Africa, due to new variants of the virus will be mantained in Spain until the 27/04.

The EU Digital Green Certificate against Covid-19 will allow movements within the continent to those who have been vaccinated or produced antibodies and to those who have been tested (PCR or an antigen test). This certificate could be available at the beginning of the summer.

Air capacity

The global airlines capacity during 12/04 week has been -42.8%, while in Spain -76.5% behind the same week on 2019. It is expected that, in the next weeks, there will be a slight global recovery in frequencies (especially domestic flights). However, it must be reminded that companies continue to readjust their offer from week to week.

Tourist offer and professional events

In Barcelona city, 127 hotels with 29,597 beds remain open. The Eixample, the Gothic Quarter, and Sant Martí are the districts with more available offer.

81.8% 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 (Sagrada Familia, Tibidabo and Casa Batlló).

As for the professional events, it must be highlighted that there are 102 confirmed congresses for the upcoming years, 53 in 2021.

Tourist demand

Over the last week, Google searches from Spain for both, Barcelona city and Destination Barcelona have decreased during the last week. Most of the searches for both geographical areas keep coming from Catalonia.

The Barcelona flights and accommodation searches achieve their best positioning on the Dutch, the French, the Italian and the Spanish markets, followed by Germany and the United Kingdom. The positioning of the Destination has remained stable if compared to the previous week.

The hotel bookings in Barcelona city over the last week (04/04-10/04) have remained virtually the same: while two weeks ago, 21.9% of bookings had been made, last week, they were 21.8% (as compared with the peak of January 2020). Over the same week, the volume of hotel reservations in Destination Barcelona has been lower: while two weeks ago, 43.3% of bookings have been made, last week, they were 40.3% (as compared with the peak of January 2020).

Destination Barcelona tourism forecast (16/04/2021)