The City Council asks Barcelona residents to make La Rambla their own again

For some time now, Barcelona residents have forgotten about La Rambla. Not because they wanted to, but because it had ceased to be a place for them. Always full of tourists, Barcelona residents stopped strolling along it and, at most, would accidentally cross it while walking through the city center or to go to one of its shops or theaters. Like so many other things, this was how it was and it seemed it would be for a long time until the pandemic arrived, which has emptied it of tourists and turned it into a desert of closed shops and restaurants. Now, the Barcelona City Council wants Barcelona residents to return, with the intention of saving these businesses and having many of them reopen their doors in a Christmas campaign that must serve to save, even if only a little, a disastrous year.

The campaign Baixa a la Rambla aims to revitalize the city's quintessential street, with more than 50 leisure activities for all audiences. Highlights include a Turkish gastronomy tasting with chef Ismael Prados on December 12 at La Boqueria or a kombucha tasting on December 10 at La Cocina de la Boqueria. But they also invite to enjoy a flamenco show on December 11, 12, 18 and 19 at Tablao Cordobés; a guided tour to discover La Rambla through the eyes of Albert Einstein or Federico García Lorca or an exhibition of human statues on December 12; jazz in Plaza Reial on December 12 and 19 or a zumba or spinning class on December 13 at CEM Colom.

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During December and also during January, cultural and gastronomic activities like these will take place in La Rambla and its surroundings, settings that want to re-seduce their neighbors with a very complete program. There will also be promotions to visit its museums, such as the renovated Wax Museum, Macba, CCCB, Palau Güell, the Erotic Museum or the Aquarium. They even offer a 2-for-1 to travel again on the mythical Golondrinas.

For Barcelona's Councilor for Commerce, Montserrat Ballarín, La Rambla, that street that Lorca wanted to never end, now has the opportunity to rethink its offer and direct it towards Barcelona residents. In this sense, the president of Amics de la Rambla, Fermín Villar, asks them to return, with the intention of generating enough activity for businesses to reorient their activity towards them.

The association has been warning for years about the extreme dependence of this city artery on international tourism, a situation that has now become more evident than ever, with 40% of its premises still closed, especially those that were only focused on tourists and businesses.

"We have already seen that the excess of tourism or the absence of Barcelonians has consequences on the economic, commercial, and coexistence fabric in the heart of the city," adds the first deputy mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni. "Now is the time to rediscover La Rambla. Now is the time to once again enjoy dining, culture, strolling, and meeting. Now is the time to come back to La Rambla," he argues.