Boosting local commerce in the city

The campaign ‘Shop locally. Our shops make our city’ has been conceived to boost local commerce and hospitality in the city. It is also aimed at making people jointly responsible and use their consumer power to redress the consequences of Covid-19 for this sector.

23/06/2020 17:49 h

Ajuntament de Barcelona

Commerce and hospitality are among the most important economic activities in the city, accounting for 21% of the economy. Barcelona has 61,000 commercial establishments, including 9,300 restaurants and 43 municipal markets.

Local commerce plays a key role in the city, fostering social cohesion and harmony. The campaign ‘Shop locally. Our shops make our city’ is a call for public responsibility relation to the importance of preserving local commerce.

Reactivating commerce and hospitality after Covid-19

Since the start of the state of emergency, the City Council has been working on its Plan for the Reactivation of Commerce and Hospitality to mitigate the effects of the crisis in one of the sectors which helps drive the city forward.

The plan consists of more than 40 specific measures for protecting, fostering and reactivating local commerce.

The following measures have been established with the purpose of providing liquidity and keeping as many businesses as possible going:

Measures have also been established to ensure the safety of commercial establishments:

The nosedive in the number of visitors has had a significant effect in the city centre and the decision has been taken to adapt promotional efforts to the new reality, targeting local customers:

  • More Christmas lights in the centre of Barcelona and in shopping hubs
  • Special attention to commerce in the centre, to add vitality to public space.

Finally, the intention is to boost innovation, professionalisation and joint work between shops and associations, with measures to assist with the digitisation of commerce through direct subsidies, technical support from Barcelona Activa and online courses.

Full information on the measures to reactivate the city’s economy can be found on the website Barcelona never stops.

 

Tags associated with the news item

Related news