The high season of tourism begins in Barcelona and this entails an increase in commercial activity. With the aim of making the most of this circumstance, the Generalitat has endorsed an agreement this week, which was signed in February by the Barcelona City Council and some commercial representatives, to extend the opening hours of establishments in the central areas of the city.

In this way the Zone of Great Tourist Influx (ZGAT) is extended and shops will be able to open their doors from next Sunday May 15 until September 15, in a schedule that, for surfaces of more than 300 square meters, It will go from 12 noon to 8 p.m. As for the premises with a smaller space, they will maintain their freedom to open at the time they prefer.

This new regulation allows the opening of stores for 32 Sundays instead of the 15 that were stipulated before its application. To these dates must be added the holidays agreed between the Govern and the city council of the Catalan capital, which the remainder of 2022 will be: June 6, August 15, September 26 and September 4, 8 and 18. december.

The areas affected by this ordinance will be:

Ciutat Vella: El Raval, el Gòtic, Sant Pere, Santa Caterina and La Ribera and La Barceloneta.

Eixample: the Nova Esquerra de l'Eixample, the Antiga Esquerra de l'Eixample, the Dreta de l'Eixample, the Sagrada Familia, the Fort Pienc and Sant Antoni.

Sants-Montjuïc: Sants, Hostafrancs, Poble Sec and Font de la Guatlla.

Les Corts

Sarrià-Sant Gervasi: Sant Gervasi-Galvany, part of the Putxet and Farró neighborhoods.

Gràcia: Vila de Gràcia, part of the neighborhoods of La Salut, Camp d'en Grassot, Gràcia Nova and Vallcarca and the Penitents.

Horta-Guinardó: part of the Baix Guinardó.

Sant Martí: the Olympic Village of Poblenou, Poblenou and part of the neighborhoods of the Park and the Lagoon of Poblenou, and Diagonal Mar and the Maritime Forum of Poblenou.

Negotiations to reach these new hours were delayed for several months and, in addition to the Barcelona municipal government, other entities were involved such as the Fundació Barcelona Comerç, Pimec Comerç, Foment del Treball, the Associació Nacional de Grans Empresas de Distribució (Anged), the UGT and Barcelona Oberta. The latter has launched a campaign to publicize the new business calendar, with the name 'BCN Tot Obert' and the message 'For you, for all, Sundays all open in Barcelona'.

Likewise, this new measure has not satisfied all sectors, since more than a dozen neighborhood and commercial entities in Barcelona have adhered to a statement that rejects the new business hours. They consider that the measure only benefits large businesses, the Federació d'Associacions Veïnals de Barcelona (FAVB) said in a statement on Wednesday.

They also add that “as much as the defenders of the measure argue that it will generate employment”, neighborhood businesses cannot hire more people due to their delicate economic situation and they believe that large businesses will only carry out hourly restructuring of staff.