The hotels, campsites, tourist apartments and rural houses of the demarcation of Girona they will rub full employment on the holidays of Easter. The coast of Baix Empordà and Selva is where there will be higher occupations, expected to be between 90 and 95% between Good Friday and Easter Monday. In a similar situation is the interior area of Garrotxa and Selva interior, while the city of Girona, the northern area of the Costa Brava and the Girona Pyrenees have 80% of the places reserved. In any case, the entrepreneurs point out that this 2023 they have noticed a significant increase in foreign visitors during the months leading up to the summer season, a situation that had not been seen since before the pandemic.
The tourism sector anticipates a “very good Easter” this year with employment data that in some cases can touch 100%.
At the moment, bookings on the North Costa Brava will be between 55 and 60% occupied during the week, but from Good Friday they will shoot up to 80%. In a similar situation is the city of Girona, where during the week there are 65% of reserved places, but on the four public holidays these figures rise to 85%.
In the Costa Brava Center they expect to have occupations similar to last year. The president of the Hospitality and Catering Business Association, Bárbara Hallé, last year was already “exceptional” and this 2023 they hope to repeat the good feelings. The busiest days will be during the week with 60% of the places reserved, but in view of the four days of public holidays it is planned to hang the full poster in several establishments.
In the same situation there are the Garrotxa and the interior Selva, which expect to have between 90 and 95% of the places full on public holidays, while during the week the reservations will remain below 75%. On the south Costa Brava, which includes the coastal area of La Selva, forecasts are also between 90 and 95%, while during the week there will be between 80 and 85% of occupied places.
On the contrary, in the mountain areas this year’s bad ski season will take its toll. In fact, the stations will be closed and this means that between Monday and Thursday there will be between 40 and 45% of reserved places and from Friday the figure will reach 80%.
Overall, Girona’s figures place occupations between 85 and 90%. This is between 2.5 and 5% more than last year. It should be borne in mind, however, that in 2022 there were still health restrictions in force on the capacity of establishments.
Presence of foreign tourism
The president of the Girona Camping Association, Miquel Gotanegra, has emphasized that throughout the month there will be a significant level of Anglo-Saxon and French visitors. In fact, Gotanegra has ensured that this audience allows the campsites to be “opened” during Easter, as it guarantees continuity of customers for around five weeks.
In this sense, Gotanegra has noted the importance of this tourism in the Girona sector, beyond the “good weekend” that will represent the ten days of Holy Week.
These are European visitors who take advantage of their spring holidays to enjoy the good weather in Catalonia. In this regard, the president of the Tourist Association of Apartments (ATA) in the Girona regions, Esther Torrent, has recalled that 40% of the visitors who will be there in the next ten days are from outside the State.
This is a senior visitor profile that “hadn’t come since the pandemic broke out” due to the vulnerability of their age group to the virus and also due to the health restrictions that were in place. Torrent considers the return of this public to be good news.
Stays of two nights
The average stay in the demarcation is between two and three days. This means that most tourists will stay for one or two nights. The president of the entrepreneurs of the central Costa Brava, Bárbara Hallé, has recalled that it is “difficult” for visitors to stay all the holidays during Holy Week.
In addition, the visitor profile will be mostly Catalan tourists, mostly from Barcelona, who are middle-aged and traveling as a family.