The debate on tourism in Barcelona looks set to become a matter of national identity that divides the population, as is also the case between supporters of the potato omelette with or without onion. This is how we are sometimes, all or nothing, Barça or Madrid, black or white. With tourism it is difficult to find the key to the will of the people, but without a doubt it is such an important matter for our economy that perhaps we should try to do it in a more sensible and calm way. The result of the latest survey on the perception of tourism in the Catalan capital gave a hopeful figure: 70% of Barcelona residents consider it beneficial for the city. But instead more than half (61%) thought that the city is reaching the limit of its capacity.
Both options make sense and are timely. To combine the benefits of tourism with the control of its inconveniences, the affected administrations will have to think of plans that facilitate coexistence without killing the hen that lays the golden eggs. Tourism in Barcelona, ??and also in Catalonia as a whole, is not a trivial affair. We are talking about the first industry in our environment and precisely for this reason we must all apply ourselves so that the flaws we find in the sector are minimized to the maximum in order not to lose a key income of the present and the future. We need to find solutions that allow all the sectors involved to continue feeding an activity that we have recovered after the pandemic and is on track to achieve record numbers. In Barcelona we are lucky to have traditional tourism, plus that of congresses and fairs, plus health, cultural and gastronomic tourism.
The path of dispute, that of tourismophobia, does not seem appropriate, then. It is the same with the need to continue to have a strong and competitive territory and as a society we lose ourselves in long and sterile debates that are responsible for putting the brakes on such essential issues as the expansion of the airport. When you observe how other markets compete without conditions many of us feel envious. We need to think bigger to obtain high levels of success. And since we don’t do that we dedicate ourselves to ordering any plan that could endanger the main foci of wealth generation. We are like that. It must be admitted. But it would be great if one day we could detach ourselves from such mediocrity and try to grow without complexes.
The serious problems the city has are more to be found in the administration’s lack of capacity to build housing at reasonable prices. Read the article that Enric Sierra wrote yesterday. Demolisher To govern seriously is to find formulas that solve problems and not obstruct areas of activity that work.
