The violence unleashed in the streets of Barcelona throughout the last nights has pushed the Catalan economy back to October 2017, when the independence challenge of the Generalitat generated such uncertainty that countries such as the United Kingdom or the United States advised their citizens to step on Catalonia and 5,000 companies ended up removing their headquarters from the territory.

The impact came in the form of withdrawal of billions of euros in bank deposits to entities located outside Catalonia. Also with the cancellation of trips and congresses in the following five months for a cost of 319 million euros, according to the employers' tourism company Exceltur. The situation stabilized 27 days later after the application of article 155 and intervention of the Generalitat.

Yesterday, after several days in which the images of disturbances at the airport or fires in the center of Barcelona circled the world, the entire Catalan business association raised its voice to warn about the consequences of an escalation of tension in the streets for longer.

Foment del Traball, Cambra de Barcelona, ​​the Consell de Gremis, the Cecot business confederation or the employers' association of SMEs Pimec warned that the violent drift that the democratic Tsunami has taken, the movement of protests against the condemnation of the Supremeist to the independence leaders, threatens with "destroy" the Catalan economy. It should be remembered that these associations bring together the entire business fabric based in Catalonia: from their largest financial institutions and distribution, fashion or food groups to medium and small companies in all sectors.

If Foment del Treball called to "avoid the destruction of capital" accumulated by Catalan society and asked the Generalitat to stop encouraging mobilizations and occupations such as the airport, the other associations directly called for the cessation of all types of violence, including the Chamber of Commerce of Barcelona, ​​chaired by the independentist Joan Canadell.

Among Catalan businessmen, the right to a general strike like today is supported, but there is fear that it will degenerate into more violent episodes and that the situation will spiral. «There is a power vacuum in Catalonia and it is difficult to find efficient political leadership . The people are very hot and there are no clear messages of solution to the conflict, nor bridges with the State, and there may not be any within six months, ”explains the secretary general of Cecot, David Garrofe.

In just three days, the signals have been felt in areas such as congress and fairs tourism. On Monday, the Porsche dealership worldwide convention was affected by the capture of the airport, which ended with more than 100 flights canceled . On Wednesday, the Bareclona Meeting Point, the most important real estate event of the year, started at the Fira. Yesterday, one of his most veteran assistants stated that the current edition is one of the weakest that he remembers for visitors and the ability to close deals. "No top executives have come, nor have they had institutional coverage and the people who are leaving before the event ends this Friday," he says.

The impact on tourism is immediate. Catalonia has a large and very distributed source of income for visitors. Not only for leisure: Barcelona, ​​is the fourth city in the world where more professional congresses are organized. Thus, between leisure and business, the city council accounts for an annual traffic of close to 28 million people that generate 13% of the city's wealth and contribute 10% of employment. Since Tuesday, embassies in some countries (USA, United Kingdom, France and Bulgaria) warn their citizens about the risks of going to Catalonia. The French embassy warns of clashes in the streets and "disturbances of means of transport"; the British notes that "the demonstrations may intensify and become violent" and the United States predicts "an important protest activity."

With images of mobilizations and alerts from embassies, cancellations are the biggest fear in hotels. In the last year, 163 professional events were organized in the city, according to the International Association of Congresses and Conventions. This weekend is precisely celebrated one of cardiology, which coincides with the 75th anniversary of the Spanish Society of Cardiology (SEC) .

The Business Federation of Associations of Spanish Travel Agencies (Fetave) has already warned that the seats of the Imserso Program trips to Catalan destinations are frozen, because retirees, who had to choose destination this week, are choosing to stay on the list Waiting in other destinations before choosing a Catalan one.

Both the Hotel Guild of Barcelona and the Association of Tourist Apartments (Apartur) agreed yesterday that the incidents have had a "very negative" impact on the international image of the city. From the Restoration Guild of Barcelona they indicated that the disturbances are affecting consumption, after several negative seasons for restaurants and bars.

Barcelona is also an important logistics point and the strike called today will generate problems in deliveries, according to the Spanish Confederation of Freight Transport (Cetm), which recommended yesterday to transport companies to advance shipments "as far as possible" before the difficulties that there will be today to access the loading and unloading centers.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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