01 Jul 2020

Perspectives of the tourist activity.

As the summer season progresses, tourist activity is reactivated.

As the weeks go by, mobility restrictions continue to be lifted in order to be able to hold events in most European countries or also to allow residents of each country to travel. Northern European countries have the fewest restrictions. In Spain, on 21 June, mobility was opened up between the countries that make up the Schengen. And since the travel agencies were able to open their establishments in mid-May, reservations have gradually increased. Although there is still uncertainty as we get to know in detail all the internal regulations applied by each country or region, we do notice a slight revival that is increasing as the summer progresses.

According to the report of the Observatory of Tourism to the Destination Barcelona (includes city and region), the searches by tourists and visitors of the same domestic market continue to rise, although most of these searches come from the area Catalonia that demand proposals and tourist activities of proximity. Of the main European markets, Italy continues to be the country with the highest demand for Barcelona as a destination. This increase has been greatly helped by the broadcast of the series “The Cathedral of the Sea” (based on the book written by Ildefonso Falcones)during the month of May on the Italian channel Canale 5. From the same report, it is noted that German tourists have had a rise in the search for reservations to Catalonia, mainly the Berliners. The searches from the German market have been superior to those of other European countries. Meanwhile, from France, the main market for tourists coming to Catalonia, the most numerous searches for information and tourist packages come from the regions of Languedoc-Roussillon, Midy-Pyrénées and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur. Although at the beginning of June the reservations from the national market were outstanding, from mid-June the reservations and searches from European countries already exceed those of the national market itself. They are always searches referring to the destination Barcelona and Catalonia.

To promote reservations and tourist activity, a few days ago the Catalan Tourism Agency launched the campaign “Catalonia is your home” – A thousand reasons to come to Catalonia – , which has been published in different languages as it is aimed at both the local market and the different European source markets and which bring a good number of tourists to the destination. Of the various promotional activities that have been carried out, the video is the one that has had the most media coverage. The campaign is primarily aimed at local tourism and will continue to strengthen the international market as air connectivity allows. A second phase of this campaign will be launched this autumn and will continue until 2021, accompanied by direct actions in international markets.

Barcelona, on the other hand, has also announced its campaign budget for the reactivation of tourism, which was launched this week. The tourism promotion plan aims to resume activity and attract visitors to the destination Barcelona (city and region). This plan includes 44 different actions and will be implemented in four phases, depending on health conditions, travel restrictions, the standardisation of services and the tourist offer that can be presented from the destination at any given time.

The first phase, which began this week and will run until September, aims to restore local economic activity and its metropolitan area and increase confidence in the consumption of tourism products and services. There is also a second phase of immediate implementation to carry out a promotional campaign in the domestic and European proximity markets.

All these phases have in common that they want to promote activities and experiences segmented by theme or type of product, such as guided tours, wine tourism, literary routes, museums or gastronomic tourism and all in a marked environment of sustainability and environmental respect.

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In any case, the main concern of tourists and visitors is the health guarantee of any destination. In this sense, the certifications on the management in the application of sanitary and hygienic measures are those that generate that confidence. The different institutions, companies and organisations linked both directly and indirectly to the tourism sector have worked hard to implement the various measures and guarantees. In this sense, transport is an important actor since it guarantees the mobility of tourists and visitors so that they can carry out their activities or develop the different tourist proposals offered. Avant Grup, a leading company in the sector of transport and mobility in tourist services, already has the Stop-Covid19 and ResponsibleTourism certifications, which give confidence to the users of the transport service, especially now that the demand is starting to recover a little.

afe holidays are the new paradigm and tourist destinations are working to adapt their offer to the new requirements and demands of this season’s visitors. Technology plays an important role in access control, video surveillance, capacity control, etc., as mentioned in the previous BLOG on 17th June.

Business tourism has also been advancing in its reactivation, and from September there are different shows, fairs and events programmed in the facilities of the Barcelona Fair. If there is no alteration to the program the Bridal Fashion Week, BizBarcelona, the Boat Show, IBTM or Smart City Expo World Congress are some of the events planned and that will be carried out with a very precise control and that has been advised by the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona. The fairground will control capacity, visitor flows and will separate the entrance and exit circuits by means of artificial intelligence systems

In tourism, nothing is the same anymore.