Turisme de Barcelona opens a new stage with Jordi Clos and Mateu Hernández at the helm

The promotion of Barcelona as a destination and the revitalization of its tourist, cultural, and commercial offerings open a new stage. The Turisme de Barcelona consortium has formalized the renewal of its new management in the first annual meeting of the General Council of the new mandate. With the president of the Gremi d'Hotels de Barcelona and of the Derby Hotels chain, Jordi Clos, as president of its executive committee, the consortium has ratified Mateu Hernández as the new general director. This appointment serves as a starting point for this new stage of the consortium, made up of the City Council, the Cambra de Barcelona, and the Fundació Barcelona Promoció.

This renewal is, for now, the last piece of a domino effect started with the change in the presidency of the Cambra de Comerç. Josep Santacreu assumed the position in October, and one of his first decisions was to back Jordi Clos as president of the consortium's executive committee. Clos replaces Eduard Torres, who was part of the Eines de País candidacy, which competed with Santacreu's in the Cambra elections. According to the consortium's statutes, its presidency corresponds to the president of the Cambra, but it is usually delegated to a third party. Santacreu, present at the General Council, has delegated it to Jordi Clos, who served as second vice president of Turisme de Barcelona in the previous mandate.

The hotel entrepreneur is the founder and president of the Derby Hotels Collection group, which has more than twenty owned buildings totaling 1,200 rooms and a staff of 900 employees. In addition to being a hotelier, Clos is an Egyptologist, collector, and art patron, a facet that has led him to create a collection of hotels located in historic buildings that house collections of ancient and contemporary artworks, with more than 5,000 pieces in total. His work, especially in the field of Egyptology, has been recognized with distinctions such as the Creu de Sant Jordi from the Generalitat and the Medalla d'Or al Mèrit Cultural from the City Council.

Turisme de Barcelona considers that the Catalan capital has consolidated itself as a "mature destination" and is in a privileged position to move towards a responsible tourism model

More budget for a 2024 marked by the Copa América

The annual meeting of the consortium's General Council, chaired by the mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, has also approved a budget with a 5% increase for 2024, up to 53.5 million euros. The increase mainly responds to resources from European funds aimed at digital transition projects, which will be executed until 2026 to digitally transform the tourism sector in Barcelona. The City Council also increases its earmarked contributions to the consortium for next year's exercise, with a view to the Copa América and Any Tàpies, for the centenary of the artist's birth.

This first meeting of the new stage has also served to define Turisme de Barcelona's action plan for the coming months. Its basic objective? To ensure that tourism continues to be one of the city's main economic drivers, through its management. With this goal in mind, the entity has set priorities in its new roadmap. Among them is improving the interaction between the visitor and the host city, as well as advancing in the digitalization of the sector's promotion, communication, and management channels. This line includes the implementation of projects financed by the European Next Generation funds, based on the creation of a platform that connects Barcelona's offer with process automation and Big Data, to address visitors in a personalized way.

Focusing the promotion of Barcelona as a destination on quality tourism and working to guarantee the city's and its surroundings' good external reputation will also be objectives of the consortium and its renewed leadership. In fact, Turisme de Barcelona considers that the Catalan capital has consolidated itself as a "mature destination" and is in a privileged position to move towards a responsible tourism model. In this context, it will focus on attracting segments that stand out for their potential, such as events in the field of meetings and congresses, sports, and culture.

This action plan is conditioned by major events and congresses that Barcelona hosts recurrently, but also by an extraordinary one: the America's Cup. The international regatta anticipates a year of intense projection of the Barcelona brand that will especially affect the blue economy sector. Given this forecast, the consortium's will is to encourage citizens to feel co-participants in the event. With this objective, it will program activities throughout the year that extend the impact of the most important sailing competition beyond the event itself and tangibly reach Barcelona residents. Thus, it is about closing a circle: a Barcelona that favors its brand and reputation, a brand that favors Barcelona and its citizens.