Shorter stays and less joy when spending in the Pyrenees these days. Awaiting the employment data for August, the tourist associations agree that it is a good summer, although not comparable to the last two, since after the pandemic and due to the fear of possible restrictions on flights and cruises the mountain establishments were filled well in advance and even had a waiting list.
The Vall de Boí Tourism office, in Barruera, received 3,355 visitors between August 1 and 21, a figure similar to last year but well below the 4,962 tourists of 2,021. Their statistics reflect that holidays are getting shorter. Most stays are three or four days.
El Forn de Llesp is a small establishment at the foot of the road with walls full of newspaper clippings and postcards and which offers homemade meals. Baker and journalist, its owner, Núria Castells, agrees with the tourism office that there are fewer people than other years and points out that tourists spend less. “I’ve had clients who spend a day in Alta Ribagorça and then go to the Aragonese Pyrenees, the tendency is not to stay in just one place”, he explains. “The season is also saved by the second residences, their owners spend more days there and leave money in shops and restaurants”, adds Castells.
For his part, the vice-president of the Tourism Board, Juan Antonio Serrano, is convinced that it is a “very good” summer. “However – he adds – if we compare it with the two best in history it is inferior, people are on cruises and flying abroad, it’s normal”. Regarding spending, Serrano believes that profits in the sector will be slightly lower because there will be fewer people and because costs have increased, so that, even if the customer spends the same, there is not as much money left in the box.
The president of the Lleida Hospitality Federation, Josep Castellarnau, also owner of the restaurant and hotel Castellarnau d’Escaló, is convinced that the month of July has been very good for the sector. “And in August the first two weeks we had an occupancy of over 85%, but we do see that customers are consuming less, some families don’t eat both meals in restaurants”, he notes.
The forecast for rural tourism is to close the month also with an occupation of 85%. “You can see that everything is going slower than in recent years”, acknowledges the president of the Federation of Rural Houses of Lleida, Núria Ferrando. “Other years the reservations came in very early and this year not”, he says. His country house is in Estac, near Sort. As is the case in other establishments, stays have been reduced compared to the previous two years. “Before the houses were rented for weeks and now for fewer days, but if they ask me for three nights, welcome, too”, affirms Ferrando.
“I think – he remarks – that the increase in mortgages and the shopping basket has reduced the availability to spend on holidays. She works in her sister’s cheese factory in Surp, “we sell well, but less than other years, it is an indication of tourism in the territory. People are not very excited, spending on accommodation has to be done, but other things are saved”, he points out.
Although the hotel industry feels that there are fewer people, the national park of Aigüestortes and Estany de Sant Maurici, one of the most visited areas in the Pyrenees, has received more tickets this summer than last. In July it recorded 45,870 visits, a figure slightly higher than the 45,624 in July last year and slightly lower than in 2021, when the pandemic made many families opt for local tourism and 46,336 people arrived at the park .
The head of the park’s public use unit, Xavi Llimiñana, assures that even if there is a perception that there are fewer people, the same have arrived in Aigüestortes: “We had a big boom in 2021 after the pandemic, which led to quite a few problems with access and saturation in car parks, now there is no feeling of collapse”.
