Barcelona promotes debate on the future of urban tourism with a series of activities and lectures at the CCCB
Jordi Valls takes part in the opening lecture in the cycle, “The Desire to Travel: Being a Tourist in the Twenty-First Century”, by the writer Geoff Dyer and moderated by the journalist and writer Laura Fernández.
The Deputy Mayor for Economy, Tax, Economic Promotion and Tourism with Barcelona City Council, Jordi Valls, took part in the opening lecture on Friday: “The Desire to Travel: Being a Tourist in the Twenty-First Century”, by the writer Geoff Dyer and moderated by the journalist and writer Laura Fernández. The lecture kicked off a calendar of activities, talks, workshops and lectures to be held jointly from 2025 to 2027 between Barcelona City Council, Barcelona Provincial Council and the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB), promoting reflection on the future of urban tourism and its effects for cities and people.
The opening event consisted of a conversation between the writer Geoff Dyer and the journalist and writer Laura Fernández about the sense and desire to travel at a moment when tourism has become a global phenomenon. The idea is to open up reflection on tourism as a unique phenomenon rooted in society and at the same time as an economic sector with a huge impact on a global level, from the point of view of cities and with a vision of the medium to long-term future.
The English writer Geoff Dyer has reflected on this in works such as Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi(Literatura Random House, 2010) and White Sands(Literatura Random House, 2017), where he explores the experience of today’s traveller, who is often trapped in the paradox of aspiring to a unique, authentic experience while also being aware that the trip is part of a carefully staged happening. In this session, Geoff Dyer spoke with the writer and journalist Laura Férnandez, who recently published Hay un monstruo en el lago (En Debate, 2024), a reflection on the construction of the tourist tale arising from the myth of the Loch Ness monster. Together they sought answers to question of our times: What does it mean to travel? Why do we visit the places we go to? What lies behind this experience which we find so deeply appealing?
