Usually, the international tourism Fair (Fitur), which was held until 21 January in Madrid, is the opportunity, in Spain, to evoke exotic destinations and trends that will lead the market. This year, however, one question has dominated in the conversations : how tourism is doing there in Catalonia ? The response of the hoteliers varies very little : “to Hurt, but it is improving little by little… “
The crisis of the tourism sector is one of the main economic consequences of the political situation in the region, where independent parties have led an attempt to secede in October 2017, which has led to his being put under guardianship by the authorities of Madrid.
“The number of customers in the hotels of Barcelona has fallen by 6 % in October and 7 per cent in November and over 10 % in December,” said Manel Casals, director general of the association of hotels of Barcelona, according to the data provided by the 400 affiliated hotels of the mediterranean city. To stop the fall, the professionals have lowered their rates. Result : revenues have plummeted by an average of 25 % in December…”
“The year will begin better than we thought ”
The wrathful, the taxi drivers in Barcelona to ensure that their revenues have plunged by 40% compared to last year. For its part, Exceltur, the Alliance for excellence in tourism, believes political instability in Catalonia has led to a shortfall of € 319 million and has reduced by 0.3 percentage point to the growth of the activity of the tourist sector in Spain in 2017, which has been very satisfactory, with an increase of 4.4 %.
Mr. Casals, however, is not as concerned about that in November. “The year begins better than what we thought, he explained to the World, Thursday, January 18. The fall in the number of tourists is only 3 % in January compared to last year, and we believe,…
