The Catalan capital wants to overcome the global standstill caused by the coronavirus by strengthening its leadership in the tourism industry, but it does not want to do so at any cost. The unprecedented growth of this economic activity has aroused the reluctance of Barcelona residents, who have seen many spaces in the city cease to be theirs. The Barcelona City Council wants to guide the debate on the change of model in tourism by promoting culture as an attraction for visitors and residents.
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For the city council, tourism and culture are two activities that feed each other, and the administration seeks to enhance this interaction to attract a visitor with more purchasing power and loyalty. Furthermore, the proliferation of cultural events such as Primavera Sound and Sònar not only attract tourists but also end up benefiting Barcelona residents, who have access to a richer and more varied cultural program.
This binomial, tourism and culture, is the axis of the dozen actions that the City Council has presented to prepare for the return to post-coronavirus normality, which still seems to take time to arrive. The first deputy mayor, Jaume Collboni, argues that we must be prepared for when all the energy that is now contained under masks and confinements explodes. "I am optimistic about the resumption of activity," remarks Collboni, who assures that the city has all the elements to overcome the crisis.
The first deputy mayor, Jaume Collboni, argues that we must be prepared for when all the energy that is now contained under masks and confinements explodes: "I am optimistic"The list of proposals for the city council's new action plan for the coming yearsis the result of the reflections of a hundred professionals from the tourism and culture sectors, such as the director of the Primavera Sound festival, Alberto Guijarro; the director of the Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera, Marta Lacambra, the director of the Culture area of Fundación Mapfre, Nadia Arroyo, and the cultural manager and founder of ICC Consultors, Xavier Fina.
The plan includes the territorial diversification of the cultural offer and the creation of a map and a census of the main cultural events that take place in Barcelona and its metropolitan area. The objective is to make known nationally and internationally what happens in the city in an easy and accessible way, facilitating participation in these activities. It also aims to promote a network of cultural cities in Spain to produce cultural initiatives, with the participation of Madrid, Bilbao, Malaga, Palma, Seville, Valencia, San Sebastian and Santiago de Compostela as main promoters.
In the area of economic promotion, the City Council plans to launch a fund endowed with public and private capital to develop new cultural content with the capacity to attract local and international audiences, based on a logic of patronage or sponsorship. This fund will act in the field of exhibitions, the performing arts world and new technologies. Another initiative is to develop a plan of support and aid for SMEs and entrepreneurs in the field of culture and the creative industry, which will be channeled through Barcelona Activa and will promote the creation of new companies.
Promoting more sustainable tourist mobility is one of the ten proposals put forward by the council. It wants to promote a change in the tourist bus service, with new routes and frequencies to become a more efficient means of transport for visitors and reach new scenarios and content, and to focus all buses that transport visitors who stay overnight on the Costa Brava and Maresme and come to spend the day in the Catalan capital at the Estació del Nord. With this last measure, it is expected to reduce coach mobility in the city center and direct tourists to spaces beyond the major attractions.