Little tourist activity despite lifting of border restrictions

International visitors can once again come to Catalonia for holidays after border restrictions for most EU countries were lifted on Sunday. 

Despite this Barcelona saw little tourist activity on the first working day after the removal of the restrictions. 

Some of the Catalan capital’s biggest tourist attractions, such as the port area, the square in front of Barcelona Cathedral, and La Rambla dividing the Gothic and Raval neighborhoods in the center of the city were largely empty of tourists. 

🎥 | Very few visitors at the square in front of Barcelona’s cathedral in the city center on Monday afternoon, a spot that would often see large numbers of tourists

📝 | Read more: https://t.co/WV2Gr3I9Ss pic.twitter.com/qwsqGH1dVt

— Catalan News (@catalannews) June 22, 2020

Many terraces of bars and restaurants on La Rambla remained closed, despite having been able to open for some weeks already.

However, street performers, caricature artists, and shop stalls selling souvenirs and plants were open on the famous boulevard. 

All in all, only around 50 passenger flights are expected to arrive at Barcelona’s El Prat airport on Monday, while there will be another 50 departures - a stark contrast to the 900 passenger flights per day around the same time last year - and Terminal 2 is not yet in operation once again.

In addition to this, the majority of those traveling through El Prat are people on their way home rather than on holiday, shops and restaurants are still closed.

📽️ | Barcelona El Prat Airport remains rather empty on the second day passenger flights are once again permitted after the 3-month state of alarmhttps://t.co/3gxRaNpzvi pic.twitter.com/mQTFPM1AZ2

— Catalan News (@catalannews) June 22, 2020

Practically empty and with many establishments still closed, businesses on La Rambla is putting more focus on locals due to the lack of tourists. 

"Yesterday we had about five or six tables of newly arrived tourists, but there is not much influx," the manager of Café Zurich, Estevao Cortés, explained to the Catalan News Agency. 

"It a better response than we expected. In the afternoons there are hours when we fill the whole terrace," Cortés acknowledged. Café Zurich is currently open with a capacity of 75% of the terrace.

The manager also believes that if 50% of the number of tourists that came last year arrive this year, and if the ERTOs were maintained, they could “save” the season.

Restaurateurs and traders in the area expect an increase in tourists from mid-July, with many likely to come from around Spain. 

However, other establishments believe that the tourist season is already “lost,” and that there won’t be enough visitors to "save" it. 

"This year is lost," the head of the kiosk Tallers said, who preferred not to give their name.