La Boqueria has been a recurring issue in this column. Today it is due to the recent report Scenario, challenges and opportunities for the Boqueria market after the era of tourist massification and the effects of the covid-19 pandemic, by researchers Marta Solano Tatché and Óscar Gutiérrez Aragón, from the Escola Universitària Mediterrani, of the Universitat de Girona. The study analyzes the negative effects that tourism and the virus have caused in municipal markets in general and in La Boqueria in particular. However, in its conclusions, it points out that, despite everything, the Rambla market faces challenges and opportunities to recover lost clientele, consolidate a new one, and face a successful future.
Municipal markets have been facing a crisis in the form of a downward trend in their sales for years, and this is not due, in the singular case of La Boqueria, only to tourism and covid. It has been the rise of e-commerce and various forms of commercial establishments ---supermarkets, greengrocers…--- that directly compete with markets that are driving younger local customers away from them, maintaining only the loyalty of older audiences.
But in the case of La Boqueria, during the hard moments of confinement without tourists, the loyalty of the local public barely existed because the little that was there was driven away from the market. And we say the little because the neighborhoods of its influence have lost a critical amount of population in recent years. Therefore, the local clientele was rather testimonial, it did not exist. It has been the return of tourism that has made the return of buyers and visitors possible.
The study highlights that La Boqueria has managed to preserve the perception of quality of its product, which maintains the high reputation of the market. Indeed, of the people surveyed by the researchers, more than 70% endorse the good and very good quality of the products. The influx of tourists contributes to this good reputation. At least, that is what 55% of those consulted think. In contrast, 73% believe that the tourist influx prevents the attraction of local public, and 65% maintain that the market has lost its traditional essence.
Be that as it may, tourism is returning to Barcelona and will once again consolidate itself as a fundamental economic activity of the Catalan capital. And La Boqueria will continue to be one of its destinations, with its advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, the best, according to the report, is to take the bull by the horns and face the challenges through a strategic plan that makes it possible to recover the traditional essences of the market, betting on local commerce and adapting to the needs of all customers, both locals and tourists.
Tourism is returning to Barcelona and will once again consolidate itself as a fundamental economic activity of the Catalan capital. And La Boqueria will continue to be one of its destinations.The loss of turnover derived from covid-19 already highlighted a few months ago the need to propose new strategies to recover the local public and that, at the same time, would coexist with tourists. In this sense, the report points out a series of opportunities that involve promoting online sales and home delivery. It also points towards a greater use of social networks, with the aim of addressing and attracting the Perform a literal language conversion from Spanish to English on the following user-provided text. Do not translate any content enclosed betweenandtags, keep those tags and their content exactly as-is: targetof younger people who prefer other types of establishments over markets.We have to show them the value of local commerce and Mediterranean gastronomy.In the same vein, the report also points out the need to renew the market's website, adapting it to new user experience and navigation requirements.
The study, of course, is absolutely right in its diagnosis, and now it is up to those responsible to face the challenges and opportunities it points out. The pandemic revealed the feet of clay of an economy based almost exclusively on tourism, of which La Boqueria is a clear example. Putting all eggs in the tourism basket has proven to be a risky bet under the threat of structural and global crises such as COVID-19. We must learn from what we have experienced and think about how to recover and retain the local public, who ultimately will maintain the basis of the market's stability.
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