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The consistory thus makes the agreement of good practices closed two days ago with entities of city guides obligatory
The Barcelona City Council has approved this Thursday a decree that limits the composition of the tourist groups that visit Ciutat Vella to 15 people plus the guide, and has therefore increased the agreement of good practices that closed this week with the two main sector entities to an obligation with associated fines.
The agreement with the Associació de Guies Habilitats per la Generalitat de Catalunya per un Turisme Responsible i de Qualitat (AGUICAT) and the Associació Professional de Guies de Turisme de Catalunya (APIT) provides for the limitation of groups to 15 tourists in Ciutat Vella and 30 in the rest of the city. For now, only Ciutat Vella will also have specific regulations.
The rule
As underlined by the district councilor, Jordi Rabassa, the decree includes the maximum capacity of groups in some points of the space, which was already made known when announcing the pact of good practices with the guide associations, as well as the provision that be sanctioned with a fine of 1,500 euros who violates the decree. In case of recidivism, the fine can be 3,000 euros.
They are sanctions that can be received by groups with an official guide and those who do not, the so-called ‘free tours’, which work illegally, not illegally. The announced sanctions will be imposed for carrying out an activity without a license in public space, a course that includes the ordinance of roads and public spaces.
It is somewhat surprising that the decree arrives only 48 hours after the council explained that it had not yet found a legal way to shield the proposal. The text now enters a period of public exposure of one month in which allegations can be submitted. After that period, it will come into force. That is, at the end of July.
Unique sense
The decree also establishes a single sense of circulation for groups, which must circulate without stops or make them very brief, in some spaces. Something raised to “give priority & rdquor; to neighborhood uses, Rabassa stated.
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The points where this one-way street will be required, which tend to suffer from crowds that you want to avoid, are the following: access to Plaça de Sant Felip Neri from Carrer de Montjuïc del Bisbe and the exit through Carrer Sant Felip Neri ; Calle de Salomó ben Adret, in the direction of the sea; Sant Honorat street, in the mountain direction; Calle del Bisbe, in the direction of the sea, Calle de Paradís, in the direction of the sea; Marlet street, in the Besòs direction; Calle del Call, in the direction of Llobregat; the Plaza de Isidre Nonell, which you will have to enter through the Plaza del 8 de Marzo; access to the entrance and exit area of Paseo de Colom: go up through Regomir and go down through Calle de los Lledó.
The group limitation it is also fixed in the parts of Ciutat Vella where they tend to accumulate excessively. Among other examples, in Plaça de Sant Jaume there may be a maximum of eight groups, as in Plaça Reial; in the King’s, five; in the Fossar de les Moreres, three. Rabassa has assured that the decree represents “one more step in the governance of tourism in the central district of the city, the one with the most influx of visitors.”