After the announcement of Mobile World Congress cancelling, hotels in Barcelona have suffered a mass cancellation of bookings. Cancellations increased by 25 percent, after the GSM Association announced the show's cancellation on February 12 due to concerns around the Coronavirus. Steven Cote, STR’s Product Manager for Forward STAR, said the numbers provide a strong indication of the bookings impact for hotels in Barcelona. "Given that 100,000 delegates were expected to attend the Mobile World Congress, the effects will be significant for hoteliers in reaching their performance goals for not only this quarter, but the entire year," Cote added.
Data from the February 10 showed the highest business-on-the-books day during the congress was set to be 25 February. Now, bookings have dropped dramatically to 67 percent. So far, the largest loss in forward demand is 30 percent for the scheduled final day of the congress, where business on the books fell from 82 percent to 52 percent.
