Barcelona opts for 50 million euros of European funds to improve tourism

The tourism model that Barcelona wants to improve by taking advantage of the ‘reset’ of the pandemic will find a good ally in European funds Next Generation, with a view to accelerating some of the plans that (by 90%) the Barcelona City Council had already planned. With this challenge, he presented this Friday the Tourism Sustainability Strategy in Destinations, an extensive program of 21 performances that covers from the beaches to Collserola which may entail investments of up to 50 million euros. The Catalan capital thus opts for the call of the Ministry of Industry and Tourism to grant aid to large urban destinations, specifically within the framework of the Modernization and Competitiveness of the Tourism Sector. The local objective is clear: decentralize tourism and improve its quality.

The initiative was presented at the Pedralbes Monastery, as “an example of what must be part of the change in the tourism model”, underlined the first deputy mayor, Jaume Collboni, looking for new sources of attraction. The topic is hot topical, at a time when travelers have returned to the city and with them some complaints about their excessive pressure on Ciutat Vella and the classic visitable icons.

The mayor has emphasized, however, that the spaces that are will reuse or rehabilitate They are not only aimed at tourists, but also at citizen enjoyment. “Depending on how we explain the model to the outside, we will get one type of tourism or another”, he insisted, focusing on the cultural portfolio that Barcelona still has to explore in this sense and outside the urban epicenter.

Territory and innovation

The projects presented by Barcelona in the Tourism Sustainability Plan in destinations (PSTD) to the 2022 call “fit in with the strategic axes” defined in the call, which are the green and sustainable transition, energy efficiency, the digital transition and competitiveness. Of the 1,900 million starting, Catalonia corresponds to 194 million, and the city will try to get 50, which is the maximum expected in this area, has detailed the Councilor for Tourism, Xavier Marcé. The Secretary of State for Tourism and the Generalitat will assess the strategy and decide the scope of the aid.

Almost all the actions will go ahead with or without funds, although obtaining them would speed up and expand them, Collboni pointed out. In fact, some are already underway or ready to bid, while others are only on paper. Everyone can meet the requirement to be ready before the end of 2025, upon his assignment next fall.

The PSTD seeks to promote the economic recovery and the resilience of the destination through deconcentration, the creation of new imaginaries and innovation, emphasizing the social return of tourism and the sustainability of the activity.

Between the six big goals figure to consolidate the sustainability of the tourism model, integrating it into the city; promote the territorial deconcentration of tourist activity based on new imaginaries; promote the recognition and creation of new content based on culture, creativity and the differential values ​​of the city; promote sustainable tourist mobility; promote processes to improve energy efficiency and mitigate climate change in the activity; and promote the comprehensive digitization of tourism activity and promotion.

Taking it to the territory, the focus will be placed above all on the Besòs and Collserola, the coast and Montjuic, Marcé has unraveled.

In the Beaches Actions are planned to renaturalize them, improve their accessibility and adapt them to climate change, with 4 million euros. In the Besòs/Collserola section, an investment of 5.48 million is stipulated to revitalize the natural park of Collserola and the banks of the Besòs River, restoring elements that are considered tourist attractions. Interventions are included in the Rec Comtal-Cases de l’Aigua, with a green itinerary for pedestrians and bicycles, among others. Whereas in Montjuic 10.3 million will be spent to enhance the park, improve its accessibility and attractiveness both culturally (with measures such as improving its escalators to visit the MNAC) and sporting.

enhanced mobility

By themes, another almost 8.5 million have been budgeted for “integration of uses and dynamics of the mobility tourism in the city mobility model”. They include strengthening the role of the North Station as a node for tourist coaches, with a profound reform that recovers its modernist elements; electric vehicles for the network Tourist Bus and a new regulation of the Bus Zone 4.0, on parking spaces and stops, and through digitization.

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As for deconcentration, the idea of urban rebalancing it is extended to other local axes, which will benefit from 9.78 million: the restoration of the Parc del Laberint de Horta; that of the Ciutadella, the adaptation of the Museu del Treball y la Ciutat in Fabra i Coats (already underway) and an immersive room to enhance the 14th century murals of the Sant Miquel chapel of the Pedralbes Monastery, among others.

The scope of innovation brings together 10.46 million, focused on the digitization of the sector to know exactly the interests of the traveler and their movements thanks to Big Data, added Marcé. These actions will be led by Tourism of Barcelona.