The Catalan economy contracted by 0.3% between July and September, although its results improved slightly compared to the previous quarter, when it shrunk by 0.5%. The tourism sector continues to grow and internal consumption continues to drop. Compared to a year ago, by the end of September, Catalan GDP has fallen by 1.4%.
During the first few hours of the implementation of the tourist tax, no problems were detected. The fee ranges from 50 cents to 2.5 euros per hotel per night depending on the accommodation category and zone, with a maximum of seven nights per person. Children under 17 and tourists from social programmes are exempt from paying the fee. Clients have not complained and most of them say that they understand the need. Hotel owners have adapted their software to include the tax payment, although they complain that they have to pay for this change. This type of fee is common in countries such as the United States, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Morocco, Egypt and Japan. The Catalan Government expects the tax to raise €50 million, to be used for the promotion of tourism.
The Spokesperson for the Catalan Government, Francesc Homs, presented a report that analyses the normative and organisation duplicities at Spanish and Catalan level. The study, compiled by a Catalan Government's institute, concludes that the Spanish Government permanently invades Catalonia’s exclusive competences, both at normative and organisational levels. According to Homs, the Spanish Government’s attitude creates “contradictions” and “legal uncertainty”, which harms investments and the economy. Homs accused the Spanish Government of “keeping important administrative structures” despite having decentralised the competence, as is the case with tourism.
Located in the centre of Catalonia, the area of Penedès is known for its high quality wine and cava. Due to the long tradition in this region of the production of these drinks and the growing presence of wine tourism, it was decided to strengthen the offers of this sector. On this occasion, after two and a half years of building work, the old Vinseum - Wine Culture Museum of Catalonia - has been reopened with new exhibits in a new location: the Royal Palace of Vilafranca del Penedès. However, this is not just a museum of the production of wine; it is based on wine as a cultural, social, historical and scientific phenomenon.
2 million foreigners visited Catalonia in August, a 14.7% increase compared to August 2011. In total, in the first 8 months of the year, 10.4 million international visitors came to Catalonia, a 12.1% raise compared to the same period from 2011. Madrid was visited by 381,000 foreigners in August, a 29.7% decrease. In the whole of Spain, the number of international tourists reached 7.9 million in August, a 5% increase. Out of all the tourists who visited Spain in August, 25.4% went to Catalonia.
The Catalan Government has confirmed that Ryanair will route its flights through Reus Airport, next to Tarragona and the Costa Daurada, during the winter season. It will link the Catalan airport with 7 European destinations, with a frequency of 21 rotations per week. It is expected that 100,000 passengers will be transported. Last year, the Irish low-cost airline cancelled all its flights operated through Reus in winter time and was only present during the summer season.
‘Barcelona World’, located next to Salou’s beaches and PortaAventura, will have 6 new theme parks, as well as 12,000 hotel rooms, casinos, convention centres, golf courses and other amusement facilities. 10 million people are expected to visit the mega-resort funded by Veremonte each year, which will create 40,000 jobs. ‘Barcelona World’, located next to Tarragona in the Costa Daurada, will be Europe’s largest amusement resort and among the world’s largest, targeting family and business tourism. Construction may be complete by late 2016. The project has been announced after the expiration of the offer made to Las Vegas Sands to build its casinos next to Barcelona. This American company has not announced if it will finally build ‘Eurovegas’ in Madrid yet, but the Barcelona option seems to be ruled out.
The increase of tourism from Russia contrasts with last minute bookings and the drop of the average spending. Hotels on the Central Catalan coast had a 95% occupation rate in August, the same as those on the Costa Daurada. Hotels on the Costa Brava had a 90% occupation rate. The increase of foreign tourism compensated for the drop of local visitors. Camping sites and rural cottages had a bad season, since they are more dependant on local tourism.
Foreign tourism in Catalonia continues to flourish despite the economic crisis. In July, there have been just over two million foreign tourists to Catalonia, 9% more than in the same month of 2011. In the first seven months of 2012, Catalonia hosted 8.4 million foreign tourists, a figure which represents 25.6% of international tourism to Spain. Catalonia has therefore consolidated its position as the most visited tourist destination in Spain.
The Catalan coastal town of Sant Carles de la Ràpita has signed a collaboration agreement with the tour operator Coral Travel. The Russian company is already working in the Alfacs bay, a quiet area perfect for water sports. With this new agreement, the number of Russian tourists is expected to increase by 50% and twenty companies will benefit. The tourists can enjoy a wide range of activities such as boat rentals, fishing or sampling the various traditional dishes of the Ebro Delta, for example seafood paella. Moreover, all of these activities can be combined with cultural activities around the Ebro area, in southern Catalonia.
Catalonia’s most known wine and cava appellation is Penedès and now it is possible to ride through its vineyards. This is a new activity to experience wine tourism called ‘burricleta’. The ‘burricleta’ is a rental service of electric bicycles with GPS to explore the vineyards in a sustainable way. Moreover, it allows visitors to discover the landscape of Penedès without too much physical effort. The ‘burricleta’ can be rented to do one of the determined routes or even a customised journey. The entrepreneurs who have brought the ‘burricleta’ to the area are working hard on a joint offer with restaurants and wineries to give visitors more information about the Penedès area, apart from the territory itself.
8,000 cruise passengers will visit the Costa Brava port, 18% more than last year’s figures. The Crystal Serenity a luxury cruise liner with 14 floors and 550 suites will be visiting the Catalan coastal town.
Barcelona is overcoming the effects of the economic crisis. So says, the President of Tourism of Barcelona, Joan Gaspart, who revealed spending by tourists in Barcelona in 2011 came to on average 741 euros, 124 euros more than in 2010. In the first six months of 2012, the number of tourists has increased by 1.69%, overnight stays by 2.26%, and credit card spending has increased by 27.08%, compared to the same period of 2011. Gaspart stressed that these increases, although "modest", show that the industry "is doing a good job" to the point where predictions given for the second half of the year also indicate an improvement.
Barcelona’s premier guided bus tour is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year after having been in operation since 1987. Described as “the most convenient way to discover Barcelona's most interesting and attractive sights” the popular open-top bus tour has catered for over 21.7 million visitors and sight seers in Barcelona. Over the years it has showcased Barcelona’s most popular locations, monuments and parks as well as opening up the city’s less well known areas to millions of visitors. One of city’s most successful tourism projects now offers city tours, sightseeing tours and a captivating tour of the major floodlit landmarks at night.
Illegal street sales, colloquially called in Catalonia ‘top manta’, is a daily problem that police and councils face and find difficult to solve. This non authorized business has a turnover of about €100 million per year. Coinciding with the beginning of the tourist season, the Confederation of Commerce of Catalonia (CCC) has started a new campaign called ‘Estirem de la manta’ (‘Pull the blanket’) to deal with this irregular practice. The objective: to raise awareness of the social and economic harm of this illegal activity with tourists and natives in order to tackle the problem. The CCC estimates that there are about 2,500 people currently working in this prohibited business in Catalonia.