Tourist establishments in Central Catalonia register tourist occupancy levels lower than those of 2022. This July, they have stood at around 50% and, in August, the figures rise to 75% in regions such as Berguedà. "We are below what would be usual before the pandemic," confirmed Oriol Baños, president of the Berguedà Agrotourism Association.
In Solsonès, they also assure that it is being a "lazy" season and in July they have been below 50% and with "very last-minute" reservations, as explained by Mariona Martí, president of the Regional Hospitality and Tourism Guild. The situation is repeated in the rural tourism houses of Alta Anoia with jobs of up to 60%, below 2022.
El Berguedà, the region of Central Catalonia that has the most rural houses, confirms that it is being an atypical year at the tourist level and that reservations are coming in with drops. "We are below what would be usual before the pandemic. This July we have an occupancy level in rural houses of 55%, when we are normally above 70%. In August we have a volume of reservations of 75% when we are always above 85% and sometimes we are close to full", says Oriol Baños.
Baños believes that the economic crisis, on the one hand, and the fact that there are no restrictions on international flights, on the other, explains why tourist occupation is "in low hours." "At the moment there is no great concern. We hope it will be punctual and that it will be a small bump," he underlines. In this sense, he has explained that some large houses have agreed to rent the houses by the day instead of by the week. "We cannot lower prices because the numbers would not come out," he added.
Another of the tourist destinations in Central Catalonia is Solsonès. In this region they also assure that it is being a "lazy" summer with jobs that have been around 50% in July and the forecast for August is that the figures are similar. Mariona Martí, president of the Regional Hospitality and Tourism Guild, notes that it is being a "weak" season and recalls that last year they already had a drop in tourism.
In Osona, the occupancy forecast for August is between 60 and 70%, but the sector hopes to finish filling up with last-minute reservations, although stays this year are shorter. In Alta Anoia, rural tourism houses present occupancy data similar to those of neighboring counties with figures of around 50%, both in July and August. The president of the Association for the Development of Alta Anoia, Ramon Bosch, explained that "despite the fact that all the activities and parties scheduled for the summer are maintained, the season is generally weaker than last year." The profile of tourists they have in August is 75% Catalan and 25% European visitors.
Occupancy in tourist accommodation on the Montserrat site has also experienced a slight decline compared to last year. Specifically, occupancy in the Abat Cisneros Hotel and in the Abat Marcet Cells stands at 70% for the month of August, while in July the figure was 60%.
From the Abbey they confirm that these are data slightly below those of other years. The customer profile continues to be eminently local, familiar and many of them repeat the experience. Regarding the number of visitors that the Montserrat site has received in 2023, the weekend of July 22 and 23 already exceeded one million visitors.
