This weekend, Barcelona launches its new commercial calendar, which has as a great novelty the fact that shops in the tourist areas of the city will be able to open their doors every Sunday between May 15 and September 15. If until now a confusing calendar of single days of open holidays was applied (which did not quite convince anyone), the continuity during four months of spring and summer represents the acceptance of what is evidence: that shopping is an inherent activity of the tourism and leisure sector and visitors to the city do not distinguish between holidays and working days. It should also be noted that not only foreign tourists benefit from the shops open on public holidays, but they also represent more supply for Barcelonans and buyers from the rest of Catalonia. One point to bear in mind, especially when dealing with the habit of buying at any time and day of the week from local businesses expansion of online commerce is consolidating.
After multiple disagreements, last February, representatives of the central and tourist hubs (grouped in Barcelona Oberta), neighborhood stores (Barcelona Comerç), unions and administration reached what seemed most difficult: an agreement that satisfies everyone. The restriction of openings only to the most touristic areas and the commitment to comply with certain working conditions (such as guaranteeing a day off for staff) contributed to the consensus. The intention is to shield that the greater activity of the stores generates more employmentand no more precariousness.
Business hours is one of the most controversial debates in Barcelona. In the most conflicting positions, there are those who defend the maximum opening on holidays to attract tourism, compared to those who warn of the negative effects for small businesses. The pandemic, however, forced us to see this old debate with a new approach: the damage caused by the tourist break confirmed the importance of this activity for the local economy. Likewise, when we now talk about recovery, the hotel and restaurant sectors are the ones that are pushing the most. The tourist forecasts for this summer are hopeful. It will be a good opportunity to consolidate Barcelona as a shopping destination at the same level as other large metropolises. Faced with the unqualified reluctance towards the secondary effects of tourism, it is preferable to work towards a more constructive objective, that of the need to seek a sustainable tourism, that creates employment and coexists with the local population, without destroying local trade. The new commercial calendar of Barcelona goes in this direction.