Barcelona proposes to reorient its tourism model. The objective is to attract higher quality tourism, and that means that the main draw bringing visitors to the city should be culture. To be clear, tourists should come to Barcelona to visit the MNAC, the Miró, the Picasso, the Liceu, the Auditori, or the Palau de la Música, instead of coming here to celebrate bachelor parties, throw parties in tourist flats, sleep off a hangover on the beach after a night of partying, or dine on paella of such abysmal quality as the sangria that accompanies it, on some noisy and tacky terrace in the lower part of La Rambla.
For some months now, even those who have spent decades uncritically singing the praises of tourism, now accept that the overnight stay business in Barcelona has peaked, that it is a ticking time bomb. Primarily, due to the growth of tourist-phobia, as a consequence of the overcrowding of some areas of the city, the collapse of public transport, gentrification, the unstoppable rise in housing prices, the progressive loss of everything genuine (neighborhood life, historic commerce, typical restaurants...), but also due to its impact on the degradation of the Barcelona brand itself.
The most evident proof that all alarms have gone off in the sector is that Turisme de Barcelona itself has decided to take action and create an alliance with museums, art centers, and galleries under the name of Barcelona Art Seasons. Paradoxically, the objective of this tourism campaign is not to attract more tourists, but for those who come to be better.
Some will think it was about time and others will exclaim that we are already late, but the truth is that many of us believe that Barcelona has all the ingredients to be a top cultural destination (cultural and architectural heritage, large cultural facilities, or international figures to claim), although surely due to the haste, greed, and voracity of the tourism sector itself, a massive, low-cost, sun and beach, nightlife model in the worst sense, and, let's be clear, quite vulgar, ended up being adopted.
But one only needs to walk through the streets of Vienna to see that another kind of tourism is possible. I will illustrate this with a rather clear example: I don't think any tourist would think of flying to Vienna to then wander around the Hofburg Imperial Palace dressed in a phallic-shaped hat or cross-dressed as Empress Sisi to bid farewell to bachelorhood.
One goes to the capital of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire mainly to visit palaces and museums or to listen to classical music in one of its many concert halls; to stroll through its historic center, immaculate and without fear of having your wallet stolen at every corner; to warm up and let the hours pass in one of its splendid, history-laden cafés, or to taste its traditional cuisine in the lively old breweries. When we think of Vienna, we think of Zweig, Freud, Klimt, Mozart, Strauss, and, of course, Mr. Sacher—because gastronomy is also culture! This also means something.
Vienna is one of the great European tourist destinations, and at the same time, life there remains very goodVienna has achieved, for the moment, an enviable balance. It is one of the great European tourist destinations and, at the same time, life there is still very good. I don't say it, but the data does. To begin, Austria, with a population of 8.9 million inhabitants, annually receives 32 million tourists, which means that, for every resident, there are more than three million tourists. Most of them arrive in its capital, a medium-sized city of just over two million inhabitants.
However, in 2024 Vienna has just been crowned the most livable city in the world for the third consecutive year, according to the ranking of 173 cities prepared by the Economist Intelligence Unit, the research and analysis division of The Economist. The Austrian capital stands out, among other reasons, for guaranteeing its citizens access to quality healthcare and education, also for having comparatively low rents (a quarter of Viennese apartments are publicly owned and prices are regulated by law), also for its excellent public transport network and its many green areas. More data: Mercer's quality of life index, which Vienna has led for a decade, confirms that Viennese people are very happy with their city.
This good living also impacts, directly and decisively, the attitude of Viennese people towards tourists. Condé Nast Traveller magazine has awarded it this year as the most hospitable city in the world. Travelers give Vienna a score of 93.88 out of 100. What does this tell us? Well, that quality tourism, when it does not cause an increase in apartment prices, nor collapses streets and means of transport, when it does not degrade the city and does not make citizens feel like they are in the way, not only does not bother, but is welcome. Despite the unstoppable increase in tourism also beginning to worry Austrians and there have already been some demonstrations in this regard in the small and picturesque town of Hallstatt, a setting that inspired Disney's movie Frozen, Vienna seems to have achieved the squaring of the circle: quality tourism and quality of life.
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