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Skift Take
Barcelona is pivoting away from mass to quality tourism promotion in the wake of local outrage and pressure.
Dawit Habtemariam
Barcelona’s tourism board is replacing its 15-year-old slogan ‘Visit Barcelona’ with ‘This is Barcelona.’
The change in language marks a shift in strategy: Turisme de Barcelona had been promoting mass tourism – now it aims to specifically attract tourists interested in the city’s history and culture.
“We put an end to a global call for them to visit us, and we do a step forward in highlighting us,” said Mateu Hernández, general director of the Turisme de Barcelona, at a press conference Wednesday.
The new campaign launches on August 22, which coincides with the first day of the America’s Cup sailing competition in the city.
“[It is] a radical change in how we promote Barcelona across the globe from the tourism office,” said Hernández, according to Catalan News.
The office also launched a new ad that highlights the city’s festivals, architecture, and other local attractions.
Barcelona Locals Push for ‘Limits on Tourism’
Barcelona Tourism’s pivot comes in the wake of recent large scale protests in early July. Nearly 3,000 demonstrators protested tourism‘s negative impacts of the city. Some protestors squirted tourists with water guns.
Among some of the demands were a ban on short-term rentals, better working conditions in the industry, a reduction in international flights, a halt to new licenses to hotel developers, closing cruise terminals and ending tourism promotion and even dismantling Turisme de Barcelona.
Around 26 million tourists came to Barcelona in 2023, generating €12.75 billion ($13.8 billion) in spending, according to Turisme de Barcelona.
This year, international flights bookings for Barcelona are up 18% for July and August, according to ForwardKeys, a travel data analytics firm.
Over this summer, there have been large protests in other destinations in Spain. Malaga, Mallorca and Menorca have seen massive demonstrations against mass tourism.
Skift explored the motivations behind these demonstrations in a recent podcast:
