Tourism

The 4th Deputy Mayor, Jordi Valls, met at the City Hall with his Dutch counterpart, Sofyan Mbarki, to discuss the policies of the two cities in terms of tourism, trade and local economy.

In a meeting this week at Barcelona City Council, the Deputy Mayor of Economy, Finance,
Economic Promotion and Tourism, Jordi Valls, and his Dutch counterpart, Sofyan Mbarki,
shared the initiatives promoted by both cities in tourism management through new tourism
management policies aimed at improving the return of the visitor economy to the inhabitants of
the city and promoting aspects such as sustainability, the digitization of the sector and publicprivate collaboration.
In this sense, both cities share the commitment to prioritize tourism management on the public
agenda both at municipal and European level, and for this reason they have agreed to deepen
the collaboration between Amsterdam and Barcelona.
Valls and Mbarki have also addressed issues such as the regulation and control of the offer of
tourist accommodation, as well as the strategies that both cities are promoting in terms of
housing. The deputy mayor of Amsterdam is closely following Barcelona’s plans to reduce the
supply of Tourist Accommodation Housing (HUT) by 2028, as well as how the city engages with
the tourism sector and residents in implementing various tourism management measures.
On behalf of mr. Valls, today’s meeting “is a new step that consolidates a fluid relationship with
a city that shares challenges very similar to those of Barcelona in terms of tourism, economic
diversification or housing”. The person in charge of the economic area emphasized that “we are
two leading cities in Europe searching for solutions to challenges that have a global scale and
that we cannot solve individually”, which is why he emphasized the importance of building
alliances.
In order to protect economic activity in the territory, the experiences of the two cities in
supporting local commerce and emblematic establishments were also shared, as well as the
measures promoted to ensure the protection of the cities’ historic districts and heritage.

Along these lines, both Barcelona and Amsterdam share the need to apply new regulatory tools
to reduce the impact of tourism and protect commerce, culture and social cohesion in their
urban centres. At the same time, both cities have reaffirmed their commitment to seek the
complicity and cooperation of the business and innovation sectors to achieve a more
sustainable tourism sector that contributes to their local communities and has a positive impact, both locally and globally. In this way both cities forge innovative solutions to improve urban livability and promote a morebalanced tourism agenda.