The perspectives of hoteliers in Barcelona they are not flattering in the short term. Despite the government’s announcement to start receiving international tourists in July, the sectorial union of the Catalan capital continues to consider the summer as lost and leaves the start of the reactivation of the establishments for September, a process that, however, is expected to be slow. By then, it expects 20% to 25% of hotels to be open. Now only 4% works, an even lower percentage considering the number of rooms.
“Until the fear of traveling disappears and confidence is restored, there will be no movement,” Manel Casals, general director of the Gremi d’Hotels in Barcelona, said yesterday. “And we don’t think it will happen before September,” he continued. so we take the summer for lost, the activity will be anecdotal, residual ”. This organization estimates that 8% of stores could open in early July, and 10% at the end of the month.
Reactivation
“Until the fear of traveling disappears and confidence is restored, there will be no movement,” said Manel Casals, general director of the Gremi d’Hotels in Barcelona yesterday.
The revival in the face of autumn is expected discreetly. “At that time there is usually good data thanks to international conferences, but this year will be different, at most with more local events,” predicts Casals. Thus, the most visible start should be left for 2020, although the pre-epidemic values are not expected to be reached until 2022. The existence of vaccines or treatments that control the coronavirus will be key to the definitive takeoff of tourism.
That many hotels in Barcelona have terraces could be an incentive to offer a certain activity to the city. But it is not clear that they will end up opening. “It will depend on certain regulatory aspects of ERTEs of force majeure that are still uncertain,” says Casals. Also, remember, “restoration is complementary, it is not the main activity.”
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