It was like a weekend in Sitges before the pandemic. This was the feeling among many shop owners, restaurateurs and other local services regarding activity over the weekend, after months without hardly any customers in their establishments.
The relaxing of perimeter restrictions allowed for an influx of visitors from outside the comarca (county) border, filling Sitges as it had not been seen since last summer. Some shop owners pointed out that it had been ‘like a Spring weekend of 2019’. In fact, at the beginning of last week, when the new measures came into force, restaurants already registered a considerable increase in clients.
Wednesday and Thursday, which were sunny days with pleasant temperatures, the restaurant terraces were already filled with clients, mostly from outside the town. But it was nothing compared to what was seen on Saturday and Sunday, when virtually all establishments in the town were full, as well as along the beach front.
Some Sitges restaurants already had full reservations in the middle of last week and had to turn down requests for tables. Many establishments also did double turns for tables.
Shopkeepers were also happy with the weekend visitors. Since after the Three Kings Day, they’d not been able to open at weekends due to the restrictions imposed by the Catalan government. That the weekend coincided their permission to re-open together with lifting the perimeter restrictions was welcomed by all shops, and which has also been translated into sales.
The good results of last weekend now set the scene for when Easter begins. The hoteliers in the town calculate an occupation of 75% for the holiday period, while forecasts for restaurant bookings are also high. The big question is whether the current relaxing of restrictions will translate into a worsening of epidemiological data, which would then end up forcing new restrictions.
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