“We will be welcomed with open arms,” assures Laurent, artistic collaborator, who has decided to bring his family to Barcelona this summer for the first time. Without the presence of floods of tourists, "we will not be numerous to want to spend our money in the shops", he is convinced.
Prime Minister Jean Castex, however, asked the French this Friday not to go to Catalonia, where the boom in tourism was stopped in its tracks by the increase in new confirmed cases of Covid-19: more than 8,000 in two weeks.
An incomprehensible measure for Laurent, who believes that he takes "as many risks to spend the summer visiting Paris by public transport as going to a deserted beach in Barcelona".
"A chance to have a great holiday"
Christelle Z., already on site in Catalonia, in Llansá, since Sunday, confirms that "the stay is much more pleasant" despite the health crisis and the information "not very encouraging". With her partner and her son, this English teacher was able to visit museums and other tourist sites in the city "without queuing".
Not being suffocated by tourists is also the motivation of Laurent and his family. “There will not be many people on the beaches and in tourist areas. We take a risk, I know, but maybe it's a chance to have a great vacation, ”he says. "We are going to have the best holidays of our life in Barcelona," his wife assured him.
Emma B., operational assistant for a private company, is heading to Figueras on August 1st. An organized trip with a group of ten friends who have rented a "big house" from a private individual. "We will bring back lots of board games and we will have parties in our villa to avoid taking risks," she describes.
"I have no fear of not being able to return"
The government raised the thorny issue of border closures on Tuesday at a new Defense Council, while the imported cases - especially from Catalonia - question. There will be no taboo, the government has warned, and all solutions will be examined, such as closing the borders with Spain.
The measure is far from worrying Laurent, who has "no fear" of not being able to return. "If France decides to close the borders during my stay, that poses no problem, because I do not see how my country could refuse me entry into the territory by car", he explains.
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Emma B. can't imagine the possibility of a lockdown, but she will leave with her laptop and her business computer, "just in case" she gets stuck in the house with jacuzzi and pool that she has rented.
“Cancellations? Mostly French tourists ”
If, at the end of June, with the reopening of the borders and the containment of the pandemic in the region, the tourism sector saw the return of the French, the situation has now been reversed. Manel Casals, general manager of Gremi d'Hotels de Barcelona, an association made up of many hotels in the city, explains to the Parisian that the cancellations come "mostly" from French tourists.
Cyrielle, 25, is one of them. The journalist decided to cancel a romantic trip two days before the scheduled departure last Sunday, following announcements from the Spanish government. The hotel agreed "without any worry" to cancel their reservation at no cost. His plan B: a road trip in Champagne-Ardenne.
“We cannot compare with Barcelona, but we realized that we can escape two hours from Paris and discover magnificent places”, she reassures herself.
According to Manel Casals, since the Spanish government announced that the mask was becoming mandatory on the street, French tourists have canceled their reservations "en masse". However, he specifies that it is possible to "have fun despite the situation". You just have to have confidence in the measures put in place by the city.
The summer season is "totally lost economically" for the tourism sector, regrets on the other hand Manel Casals. A UN report puts the losses of the Spanish tourism sector at 77 billion euros.