Barcelona has high hopes for the return of mass tourism

Typically, there are so many tourists at the Sagrada Familia that it’s nearly impossible to take a photo without someone stepping into your frame. On this particular autumn day, however, there are few tourists in front of the famous church with its facade designed by architect Antoni Gaudi. In fact, there are even same-day tickets available. “Normally, this never happens,” says the man at the ticket office, appearing clearly bored.

With nearly five million visitors annually, the Sagrada Família was the most popular attraction in Barcelona before the coronavirus pandemic hit. It also became the symbol of the city’s mass tourism boom. 2019 saw a record number of 14 million vacationers — more than ever before.

Between 2010 and 2019, the number of passenger arrivals at the airport went from just under 30 million to 53 million. But during this time, much of the local population became resentful of the rapid rise of tourism, which quickly started to clog up the city center, driving up real estate prices, resulting in regular protests. 

There are few tourists walking on the busy central street, Las Ramblas

Now, however, the situation has changed: The souvenir store opposite the Sagrada Familia is having a clearance sale. “Everything for five euros,” reads a sign on the door. One street over, Jose Lorenzo runs a small restaurant, which he has been in business for 20 years.

It’s lunchtime, and prior to the pandemic, all tables would be occupied by this point. Now, however, there’s only one person slowly sipping a beer at the bar. According to Lorenzo, the more tourism there is, the better it is for the economy.

“It’s a positive thing when people come — It means they like it here” he says. 

Tranquility in the Gothic Quarter

An unusual calm has also descended upon the old town. Before the pandemic, masses of vacationers would stroll through the Gothic Quarter on any given day of the week. Now, you can easily stroll alone through one of the narrow streets and hear the echo of your own footsteps.

The consequences of months without tourists are painfully obvious to observe across Barcelona: A number of stores have even gone out of business on one of the city’s most important touristic streets.

Many shops have gone out of business in the touristic areas of central Barcelona

“The situation is critical after so many months without real (tourism) activity,” Manel Casals, director general of the Barcelona Hotel Association, told DW. Forty percent of hotels remain closed, he added. Normally, an average of 60,000 people stay in the city’s hotels each day during the summer, but this year, there were only 13,000, he said, adding that the industry has suffered losses of 2.7 billion euros since the start of the pandemic.

“We need to get back to pre-pandemic tourist numbers as soon as possible,” Casals says.

Many sights in a small area

“The debate about mass tourism in Barcelona is exaggerated,” says tourism director Xavier Marce defiantly. “We don’t have a problem with the number of vacationers, but with how they are distributed in the city.”

In Barcelona, he says, the sights are primarily in a very small area. This leads to conflicts with residents and undesirable developments, such as the disappearance of traditional retail, he says. In the historic center, there are entire neighborhoods with only souvenir stores, restaurants and hotels now.

“What we need is the decentralization of tourism,” says Marce.

Tourism director Xavier Marcé wants to better distribute tourism throughout the city

The tourism department has launched several projects to this end. For example, vacationers can now use the Check Barcelona app to see how crowded the most important sights are in any given moment. If the lines in front of the Sagrada Família are particularly long, visitors can simply opt to go elsewhere in town.

The sightseeing bus, on the other hand, which previously only covered the typical attractions, now also travels through districts that are almost completely off-limits to tourists. It now takes vacationers to places like the former industrial district of Poblenou, which has transformed into a hip, artistic neighborhood over the past several years.

Activists lose support

Pere Marine, one of the harshest critics of mass tourism, has lived in Barcelona for many years. Marine belongs to the city’s powerful residents’ association, and has organized a number of protests to keep tourism at bay.

The pandemic, however, has somewhat taken the wind out of the activists’ sails. They’ve had to cancel a planned protest in Parc Guell for lack of participants. Many suddenly became painfully aware of how dependent they were all along on tourism as a business, accounting for about 13% of the city’s GDP.

“Everyone knows at least someone who is employed in tourism, and has had a hard time,” Marine says.

Activist Pere Mariné continues to fight against overtourism in Barcelona

Yet for Marine, the fight against overtourism is far from over. It became clear to him that the tolerable threshold was crossed when the number of tourism arrivals peaked in 2019.

He doesn’t believe the problem will be resolved by redirecting the flow oftourists. “Why do the tourists come here? They want to see the Camp Nou, the Parc Guell, the Sagrada Familia,” he says, suggesting that it will take a long time for newer attractions to take a foothold in the tourism market.

There is no way around reducing the number of beds in hotels and other accommodations, he adds: “We want hotels to be converted into social housing.” In this way, not only would there be fewer places for tourists to stay, but it would also go towards resolving the lack of affordable housing in Barcelona.

One of main criticisms expressed by Marine and others is that the surge of tourists has driven up real estate costs, making the city less affordable for its own residents. 

Hotel association leader Manel Casals says its unlikely the number of beds will be reduced

No plans to reduce the number of beds

It seems unlikely that the situation will change when it comes to the number of hotel beds in tourist accommodations. Although the city has strictly regulated the approval of new tourist lodgings, there are currently no plans to reduce bed capacity in those that already exist.

On the contrary, there is a greater likelihood for tourism to even grow into neighborhoods outside the city center, as travelers gear up to return. Tourism department head Marce puts it bluntly: “It’s not our goal to reduce the number of tourists.”

However he says that his department is at least indirectly aiming to support some change by promoting luxury hotel experiences, which are more expensive. “The number of tourists then automatically decreases,” he tells DW, while pointing out that the income the city makes per tourist then goes up.

Manel Casals of the hotel association isn’t interested in reducing the number of visitors. Instead, he says, more effort should be made to attract business travelers who spend more and don’t clog up the streets of the historic center. But he also realizes that this won’t be an easy task. “There’s only one Sagrada Familia in the world,” he says. “Everyone who comes to Barcelona wants to see it.”

Plus, there are benefits to keeping the tourism numbers up as well. The construction of the Sacrada Familia basilica, which began in 1882, has been financed primarily by ticket sales. However, the lack of tourists has now meant that its completion, originally scheduled for 2026 — the 100th anniversary of Antoni Gaudi’s death — has had to be postponed indefinitely.

Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/barcelona-has-high-hopes-for-the-return-of-mass-tourism/a-59467441?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf