The political turmoil over Catalonia's declaration of independence has resulted in a 22% drop in bookings to the region and is likely to have a knock-on effect on bookings to the rest of Spain.
The warning comes from data analyst ForwardKeys, which helps forecast future travel by analysing millions of flight bookings each day.
ForwardKeys shows a drop in international air reservations for the Catalonia region of almost a quarter between October 1 and October 25 2017, compared to equivalent dates last year.
ForwardKeys CEO Olivier Jager said: "Domestic political unrest almost always deters visitors and that is what we are seeing now - a 22% collapse in international flight bookings for Catalonia.
"This will also have a knock-on to other parts of Spain because many visitors arriving in Catalonia will travel around the country.
"If the political crisis worsens, I fear we will see a further decline in bookings. This trend will be of great concern because travel and tourism represents such a large proportion of the Spanish economy."
According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, the travel sector accounts for over 14% of GDP.
The Catalonia region, in the northeast of Spain, covers important tourist regions including the Costa Brava, Girona and Barcelona as well as the Pyrenees Mountains.
Catalonia's regional government organised an independence referendum earlier this month and violent scenes were broadcast across the world of heavy-handed authorities ceasing ballot boxes and stopping people from voting.
Not everyone in Catalonia wants independence and there have been several rallies in support of Spanish unity. The biggest was held yesterday (Sunday), in Catalonia's largest city, Barcelona.
Over the last few days, Catalonian leader Carles Puigdemont has been removed from office and Catalonia has been stripped of its autonomy.
Spain's central government has now taken control of Catalan institutions and Puigdemont and other Catalan officials face criminal charges, which could lead to imprisonment.
Puigdemont has said he does not recognise the order from Madrid removing him from power.
Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has ordered fresh elections on December 21.
The Foreign Office has updated its advice to warn of 'large gatherings in Barcelona and other areas of Catalonia'.
The FCO added: "Further gatherings and demonstrations are very likely to take place in the coming days; they may occur with little or no warning and even demonstrations intended to be peaceful can escalate and turn confrontational; you should exercise caution if you're in the vicinity.
"Demonstrations may also cause some disruption and delays to transport services."
Courtesy of Travelmole
My husband wants to run the Barcelona marathon again and had talked about both of us going over. I am not so sure though. March is a long way off I know but goodness knows what is going to happen before then.
seems like i chose a good time to go and live there!
most of the demonstrations are in barcelona and gerona, the rest of the area being largely peaceful.
lots of good info here
https://www.facebook.com/elpaisinenglish/
i cant see much happening between now and the election on dec 21st. i just hope both sides turn out and we get a clear picture of what the locals really want.
independence will not happen, i believe, at any time in the near future as i think the result of the elections will not produce a big enough majority for the independence side -if they get a majority at all.
most of the demonstrations are in barcelona and gerona, the rest of the area being largely peaceful.
lots of good info here
https://www.facebook.com/elpaisinenglish/
i cant see much happening between now and the election on dec 21st. i just hope both sides turn out and we get a clear picture of what the locals really want.
independence will not happen, i believe, at any time in the near future as i think the result of the elections will not produce a big enough majority for the independence side -if they get a majority at all.
"The political turmoil over Catalonia's declaration of independence has resulted in a 22% drop ion bookings to the region and is likely to have a knock-on effect on bookings to the rest of Spain."
I'll just fix that....
"The political turmoil over Catalonia's illegal declaration of independence has resulted in a 22% drop in bookings to the region "...
I read a variety of papers, El Pais, El Mundo, la Vanguardia, El Confidencial and El Periodico. It's the only way to try and form an opinion about what's happing and reading the comments from the public, which gives a better perspective on the whole sorry mess.
Most gadgets will try and automatically translate the page from Spanish to English these days. I have a pop up thingy on my tablet where I've set it to always translate.
The one who sows winds, reaps storms.
You can not insult 45 million Spaniards and pretend that nothing happens.
A friend of mine said to me the other day... Why should a minority of people be allowed to steal part of my country,? Why should I need documents to travel to the north of my country.? Don't I have any rights?.
3 months ago the whole of Spain wept for Barcelona, both for the victims of the terror attack and the city....now the hate and division these independentistas have caused, it will never be forgiven.
They wanted sustainable tourism..... Guaranteed, now they will get it.
Sanji x
I'll just fix that....
"The political turmoil over Catalonia's illegal declaration of independence has resulted in a 22% drop in bookings to the region "...
I read a variety of papers, El Pais, El Mundo, la Vanguardia, El Confidencial and El Periodico. It's the only way to try and form an opinion about what's happing and reading the comments from the public, which gives a better perspective on the whole sorry mess.
Most gadgets will try and automatically translate the page from Spanish to English these days. I have a pop up thingy on my tablet where I've set it to always translate.
The one who sows winds, reaps storms.
You can not insult 45 million Spaniards and pretend that nothing happens.
A friend of mine said to me the other day... Why should a minority of people be allowed to steal part of my country,? Why should I need documents to travel to the north of my country.? Don't I have any rights?.
3 months ago the whole of Spain wept for Barcelona, both for the victims of the terror attack and the city....now the hate and division these independentistas have caused, it will never be forgiven.
They wanted sustainable tourism..... Guaranteed, now they will get it.
Sanji x
-
Edited by
Sanji
2017-11-04 18:18:42
Typo error
... and what now, Sanji?
Ban the nationalist parties?
Sack the government again after the next set of elections if it's pro indy majority?
Jail more elected officials?
The UDI was silly, but what the hell are they meant to do? Polls show a majority don't want indy so why not just have a proper and legal referendum? Much as i despised the lies of Better Together in the Scottish referendum* at least we had a legal and binding agreement. This just isn't going away anytime soon and i find some of Spain's behaviour and the EU's silence quite disgusting. I also shake my head that the UK government says that the people of Gibraltar will decide their fate, but stick fingers in their ears for the Catalan people
There ... my opinion made clear!
*let's face it, it was only 'granted' to Scotland due to the low support at the time, they'll never do that again so understandably as a Scottish nationalist i'm watching with interest!!!
Ban the nationalist parties?
Sack the government again after the next set of elections if it's pro indy majority?
Jail more elected officials?
The UDI was silly, but what the hell are they meant to do? Polls show a majority don't want indy so why not just have a proper and legal referendum? Much as i despised the lies of Better Together in the Scottish referendum* at least we had a legal and binding agreement. This just isn't going away anytime soon and i find some of Spain's behaviour and the EU's silence quite disgusting. I also shake my head that the UK government says that the people of Gibraltar will decide their fate, but stick fingers in their ears for the Catalan people
There ... my opinion made clear!
*let's face it, it was only 'granted' to Scotland due to the low support at the time, they'll never do that again so understandably as a Scottish nationalist i'm watching with interest!!!
-
Edited by
Cidermonster II
2017-11-04 20:30:04
There's a fundamental difference between the UK and Spain. The UK does not have a written constitution, Spain does. The constitution on which everybody voted, including the Catalans, enshrines a set of rules or laws for peaceful coexistence. The right to secede is not contemplated, therefore all of Spain would need to reach a concensus to change the constitution.
A unilateral declaration simply breaks the laws of peaceful coexistence and it is anti-European by creating conflict and division among a European nation. Hence why the EU will always support the Spanish Government. Junker has already said (recorded on video) that the EU has enough on its plate with 27 member states, and doesn't want an increase. He's also mindful that giving Catalonia independence, it could lead to the Basques, Bavaria and Flanders wanting the same...just to name a few.
The government hasn't made it illegal to hold a referendum, the constitution of Spain makes it illegal and it's a direct breach of the constitution to try to slice up the country. So Señor Rajoy and his PP government ( whom I'm no fan of) couldn't grant a referendum (even if he wanted to) because he'd be breaking the law too.
Afaik, Catalonia was never a country (kingdom), whereas Scotland was. Catalonia was always a region situated within the Iberian peninsula.....until it was incorporated into the crown of Aragon. (crown not kingdom). It has been part of Spain without interruption since 1512, the year that is considered to be the birth of Spain as it is today.
What happened in Catalonia was an attempted coup. The results of an unlawful referendum used to justify a seizure of power that the majority of Catalonians and the vast majority of the Spanish people oppose.
They were warned, they ignored the warnings and broke the law, so imo, they deserve to be held in custody, as there was the strong possiblity they would leave the country, just as their brave leader has done and no doubt hoping to become a martyr when he's brought back to Spain in handcuffs.
They were not put in prison for being nationalists, they were inciting rebellion and accused of misusing public funds to fund their campaign, so they're not political prisoners, they are politicians in prison for breaking the law.
I've no dog in this fight, I'm interested because I've got Spanish friends and I love Spain. Some of those friends are angry and tired of the demands and whingeing from the independentistas. They are sick of hearing about Franco ( Christ he's been dead for over 40 years) and how they are oppressed and playing the victim card.
Some Spaniards would gladly vote (given the chance) to get rid of them and watch the region resemble Venezuela .... Catalonia has far more autonomy than any of the other regions....Possibly with the exception of the Basques, which is why they've piped down and dismantled ETA.
Sanji x
A unilateral declaration simply breaks the laws of peaceful coexistence and it is anti-European by creating conflict and division among a European nation. Hence why the EU will always support the Spanish Government. Junker has already said (recorded on video) that the EU has enough on its plate with 27 member states, and doesn't want an increase. He's also mindful that giving Catalonia independence, it could lead to the Basques, Bavaria and Flanders wanting the same...just to name a few.
The government hasn't made it illegal to hold a referendum, the constitution of Spain makes it illegal and it's a direct breach of the constitution to try to slice up the country. So Señor Rajoy and his PP government ( whom I'm no fan of) couldn't grant a referendum (even if he wanted to) because he'd be breaking the law too.
Afaik, Catalonia was never a country (kingdom), whereas Scotland was. Catalonia was always a region situated within the Iberian peninsula.....until it was incorporated into the crown of Aragon. (crown not kingdom). It has been part of Spain without interruption since 1512, the year that is considered to be the birth of Spain as it is today.
What happened in Catalonia was an attempted coup. The results of an unlawful referendum used to justify a seizure of power that the majority of Catalonians and the vast majority of the Spanish people oppose.
They were warned, they ignored the warnings and broke the law, so imo, they deserve to be held in custody, as there was the strong possiblity they would leave the country, just as their brave leader has done and no doubt hoping to become a martyr when he's brought back to Spain in handcuffs.
They were not put in prison for being nationalists, they were inciting rebellion and accused of misusing public funds to fund their campaign, so they're not political prisoners, they are politicians in prison for breaking the law.
I've no dog in this fight, I'm interested because I've got Spanish friends and I love Spain. Some of those friends are angry and tired of the demands and whingeing from the independentistas. They are sick of hearing about Franco ( Christ he's been dead for over 40 years) and how they are oppressed and playing the victim card.
Some Spaniards would gladly vote (given the chance) to get rid of them and watch the region resemble Venezuela .... Catalonia has far more autonomy than any of the other regions....Possibly with the exception of the Basques, which is why they've piped down and dismantled ETA.
Sanji x
-
Edited by
Sanji
2017-11-05 11:20:35
Predictive text grrrr
Whatever the ins and outs of it all, it will (and has)put people off booking holidays there. That can't be good for the economy. Booking a holiday these days is becoming more and more difficult.
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