Tourism

Progress to consolidate backing for the sustainable maritime economy as one of the priority sectors for the future to help relaunch the city’s economy. As part of Barcelona reAct, the first collaboration agreement has been signed for the development of the future blue economy hub.

Port de Barcelona is the first stakeholder to sign the agreement, which will also set out a space for sharing projects, driving innovation, enterprise, talent and training.

Barcelona Activa will be passing the agreement onto more than thirty social and economic stakeholders in fields of port activity and maritime transport, fishing and the distribution of marine products, blue tourism, boat repairs and nautical activity, as well as cross-cutting facilitators from sectors such as research, training, education and maritime culture.

The new Olympic Port as the epicentre

The new hub will occupy an area of 7,500 square metres covering the Moll de Mestral and Moll de Marina wharfs and the sea wall at the Olympic Port. These spaces are being reserved in the transformation process for the Olympic Port.

This will be a space for the promotion of the sea, popular nautical activities and sports in general, as well as quality hospitality. The idea is for it also to be a magnet for innovation and talent, fostering loyalty among the current business network, generating economic activity and quality employment with around 200 new jobs in the first stage.

The blue economy in Barcelona

The blue economy is a strategic sector which includes activities such as logistics, fishing, boatbuilding, sport, leisure, energy, science and marine tech, but where sustainability criteria also hold.

Barcelona has 16.67 kilometres of coast, including four ports: Port de Barcelona (Europe’s tenth largest port in terms of volume, with 66 million tonnes of goods and 4.5 million passengers), Port Olímpic, Port Vell and Port del Fòrum.

The sector currently accounts for 15,000 jobs, generating an annual turnover of 3,750 million euros and representing 4.3% of the city’s GDP and 1.4% of jobs overall.