Easter tourism similar to 2019, with hotels at 90% occupancy across Catalonia

This Easter week has proven to be a good one for the tourism sector across Catalonia, with hotels at around 90% occupancy, similar to figures seen in 2019 before the pandemic hit.

Hotels in the Catalan capital, for one, were almost full over Easter despite inflation-fueled price hikes.

"It's gone really well," Eduard Torres, the president of Turisme de Barcelona, a consortium that promotes tourism in the city, told the Catalan News Agency (ACN) on Monday morning. "There is high demand."

Most visitors were from other parts of Europe, especially the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, although those from the United States have also increased. The number of tourists coming from Asian countries is slowly on the rise once again as flight connections are being reestablished after the pandemic.  

"We expect this entire year to be a good one following last year's trend," Torres said, adding that he did not think there would be an increase in the overall number of visitors because of the "limited" accommodation options he believes there are in Barcelona.

Like Torres, Jordi Martí, the president of the Acave travel agency association, said this Easter week had been good for business as over 80% of the association's companies had a higher turnover in 2023 than in 2022.

"People have gone out more because of the good weather," Martí said. "We're all very happy."

Barcelona area hotels and campsites

Hotels and campsites in the Barcelona area were almost fully booked over the Easter holidays, at around 90% and 70% to 90% occupancy respectively - official figures will be out later this week. 

"Some establishments expected around 85% occupancy rates, but we think we could even reach 90%," Jordi Noguera, the head of the Maresme County Tourism Guild, said to ACN. 

Most visitors were families and young people from Catalonia or other parts of Spain, followed by European tourists from France, the UK, Germany, and northern Europe. 

Central Costa Brava

The central Costa Brava area in the northern Girona area of Catalonia was the region's most popular tourist hotspot, with hotels, as was the case across much of Catalonia, also at 90% occupancy. 

According to Antonio Escudero, the president of the Girona counties' Hospitality Federation, these figures are what were "usual" over Easter before the pandemic struck in 2020. 

60,000 ski passes sold in Pyrenees

As was the case in other parts of Catalonia, tourist accommodations in the western Catalan Pyrenees were almost fully booked. 

The Lleida provincial authority's Tourism Board estimates some 80,000 people visited the region these days, attracted in large part by the area's nature parks, ski slopes, and campsites. 

Over 60,000 ski passes were sold in the western Catalan Pyrenees for Easter. 

Southern Catalonia's Costa Daurada and Terres de l'Ebre

Hotel occupancy in the Tarragona area, including Costa Daurada and Terres de l'Ebre, was at 85% over Easter, according to the region's Business Federation of Hospitality and Tourism.

"We've recovered 2019 levels and even surpassed them," the federation's president, Berta Cabré, said. "We've had a high number of visitors this Easter."

Although there were not as many visitors the first few days of the week as in other parts of Catalonia, various sporting events brought figures up by the end of the week. 

Rural accommodation options near the Ebre river delta were popular among families, especially from Thursday to Monday, with occupancy at 90%.