Amidst the huge brouhaha of the Spanish city’s identity crisis, Barcelona is enjoying the full stream of tourists even in the month of October.
The unofficial and illegal referendum where more than two million people voted for the region’s independence created incendiary situation which shocked the entire continent. It was then followed by a general strike where the Catalans protested against the brutality and demanded their voices be heard. The silence from central government in Madrid that followed was deafening, and it did not get any support from the international or national authority.
Following these protests and streak of violence, a series of peaceful demonstrations took place in Barcelona and all over Spain which called for dialogue between politicians, parties and people. So anyone visiting the city during last week might have encountered the river of red and yellow rojigualdas (the Spanish national flag) flowing down the Via Laietana, which bisects the Old City and leads to the port area.
Amongst all these, the hotel bookings are thought to be down as tourists failed to grasp the situation and how it might affect their travel plans. President of the Barcelona Association of Tourist Apartments, Enrique Alcántara said that there’s a lot of uncertainty in the bookings and things are not looking very positive as it should have looked during this time of the year, travel industry experts feel the whole process of these riots and protests is already affecting the tourism industry owing to the fragile political situation. Consequently, the economy might slow down is independence is declared and people might spend less on leisure.
This might seem a boon for those who are against mass tourism and do not like the volume of tourists coming in their quiet city.
