Sitges is preparing for a good influx of visitors over the long Easter weekend.
Oskar Stöber, president of the Sitges Hospitality Guild, said that although it was difficult to make a forecast, ‘occupancy during these days before Easter is already at 50% and we hope to exceed 70%, or even 75% with last-minute bookings’.
He said that the trend in recent years was that many visitors made reservations at the last moment.
Stöber said that, compared to previous months of March, ‘the last few weekends have been a little less busy in terms of holiday accommodation, and for this reason there is a bit of anxiety to see how Easter works’.
Nevertheless, the president of the Hospitality Guild said that the activity of congress and conference accommodation had been going very well. Overall, with better weather forecasts and higher temperatures, the mood was that it could be a good start to the season.
Aurora Carbonell, Mayor of Sitges, said that ‘the data and the numbers say that we are doing well in terms of tourism’.
She also added that ‘congress tourism and the events that are held in the town mean that more work is done at times when there was less work before, managing to de-seasonalise tourism’.
In order to have more data on the tourist season, the town council has installed meters in the most central streets of the town which will be operational until September, with the aim of knowing the number of visitors passing through.
The arrival of Easter coincides with the opening of the beach season, another attraction that Sitges offers to its visitors. ALSO READ: Sitges beach services start on 23 March and will continue for seven months.
During the recent International Patchwork Festival, it was estimated that nearly 30,000 people passed by, who also filled the streets of Sitges and the restaurants. Town centre hotels recorded 65% occupancy on Thursday and Friday, the first two days of the event, and 70% over the weekend.
Aurora Carbonell said that ‘Patchwork has worked very well, and it is an event that has grown a lot and continues to grow’. She acknowledged that there were some mobility problems, which are ‘normal in any large event that occupies public and private spaces’, but that ‘good coordination made it possible to fix all the problems that were arising’.
Oskar Stöber said that the event ‘went very well in terms of bars and restaurants’, but that it was not very significant in terms of accommodation, ‘except for some hotels in the centre that see higher occupancy’
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