Tourism

The Mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, has informed UN Tourism of the city’s decision to implement public policies to limit the growth in the number of visitors and regulate the tourism offer.

At a meeting prior to the 121st meeting of the UN Tourism Executive Council held this Tuesday in Barcelona, Mayor Jaume Collboni shared these reflections with the Spanish Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, and the Secretary-General of UN Tourism, Zurab Pololikashvili.

Later, during his opening speech, Collboni recognised and reiterated the importance of tourism to Barcelona, for having contributed significantly to Barcelona’s prosperity and economic progress and also to its international recognition. However, the mayor also warned of the need to act to ensure tourism remains a success story.

“Growth in tourism cannot be infinite, for the simple reason that nor is the world we share”, he said, noting that according to UN Tourism figures, the number of tourists worldwide this year will reach 1.5 billion, much higher than before the pandemic.

Focussing efforts on management

“It’s time to open a new era, a new paradigm in tourism: after decades of promotion, we now need to focus all our efforts on managing it”, said Collboni, issuing a call to defend local residents’ basic rights and also to ask ourselves and discuss with the sector about the volume of tourism that can be borne without this affecting access to housing, community relations and the construction of a sustainable, social and environmentally friendly urban model.

The mayor described how Barcelona City Council is considering four basic tools to prevent the negative consequences of mass tourism: intervening in the offer; intervening in the arrival of tourists to the city; regulating the busiest areas; and taxation. The City Council is working on these four points to define specific public policies, such as the recent creation of 16 Very Crowded Areas (EGA, in its Spanish abbreviation) and prioritising the three around the Sagrada Familia, Park Güell and La Gardunya-Boqueria market.

Intervening in the tourist let sector

Collboni placed special emphasis on a sector that requires intervention: tourist apartments. On this point, he reiterated that in the 25 largest Spanish cities, the number of such apartments had risen by 25% in the last year. “We cannot allow this. We have to intervene in the supply”, he claimed, noting that Barcelona’s commitment in this area is shared by Amsterdam, Paris and New York. “New York’s decision to ban rental apartments for tourism is a brave decision that other cities need to study,” he stressed.

“In Barcelona we are demonstrating that tourism jointly responsible for the challenges facing the city is possible”, said the mayor, mentioning the School Climate Plan to air-condition the city’s public schools with green energy thanks to revenue from the tourist tax. “We must move towards tourism with a social return for host cities, and thus make it possible for tourism to continue providing prosperity”, he concluded.