- On 14 October the Supreme Court sentenced the leaders of the procés.
- Days of protests followed in Barcelona, with the blockade of El Prat airport and riots, which affected retail and tourism.
- Every business should have a plan for unforeseen interruptions, of any origin: service, insurance, communication and cash.
On 14 October 2019 the Supreme Court sentenced the leaders of the procés. In the following days there were protests in Barcelona and elsewhere in Catalonia, with the blockade of El Prat airport and disturbances in the city centre. The purpose of this note is not to judge the ruling or the protests, but to describe their practical effects on the economic activity of a city that lives largely on mobility and visitors.
Barcelona is a city connected to the world, and its economy depends on people, goods and tourists being able to arrive, leave and move around normally. When that normality is interrupted, even for a few days, the effect is felt in shops, hotels, restaurants and companies that depend on mobility. That is why, beyond the political question, there were concrete consequences for everyday activity. Any political assessment lies outside this text, which focuses on how disruptions to normality can affect those who live and work in the city.
A city at the centre of the news
The ruling was followed by demonstrations in Barcelona and elsewhere in Catalonia. The blockade of the airport and the disturbances in the centre had a direct effect on mobility and on the city’s image abroad, a relevant factor for an economy closely tied to visitors.
The perception of normality is an economic asset, and it suffers when the news shows a city in disarray. Many visitors take their travel decisions weeks in advance, and a change in a destination’s image can be felt in bookings, cancellations or changes of plan. These effects are hard to measure immediately, but they affect the planning of tourism businesses. Keeping an image of an open, accessible city is an objective shared by those who work in tourism, retail and services, whatever their opinions.
Effects on activity
City-centre shops, hotels, restaurants and those who depend on business travel suffered cancellations, lower footfall and, in some cases, damage. An establishment with high fixed costs copes badly with a few days of reduced activity, especially if they coincide with an important occupancy season or a significant sales campaign.
Economic activity is sensitive to the perception of normality, and episodes of this kind can disrupt it for days or weeks. The effects are not limited to the areas where incidents occur: a closed street or an interrupted transport service can affect customers, suppliers and employees who were not on the spot. A business’s continuity depends on a network of factors it does not always control. Material damage or lost sales from those days can be hard to recover, which underlines the importance of knowing what each business’s policies cover.
Preparing for continuity
A business should have a plan for unforeseen interruptions: how to keep the service going, what the insurance covers, how to communicate with customers and staff and how much cash cushion there is to get through a few days of reduced activity. A simple written plan is more useful than a sophisticated one nobody remembers.
That preparation works for any disruption, whatever its origin: a strike, a storm, a supply cut or a protest. Reviewing policies to see whether they cover loss of profit from interruption, agreeing with staff how work will be organised if transport fails and keeping clear communication channels with customers are low-cost, high-value measures.
Business continuity is prepared before it is needed.
This article is general information. It is not legal, tax or investment advice, and it does not take anyone’s particular circumstances into account.
