The touristic image of Barcelona has developed since the 19th century between the push and pull of two antagonistic desires. One is involuntary, does not depend on locals and has been forged by the gaze of foreigners. The other, by contrast, is the image that the city wanted to show the world.
For a long time, the only reason travellers paid any attention to Barcelona was because of its proximity to Montserrat. It took many centuries for the city to forge an identity for itself that would make it attractive to foreigners. It was initially the Rose of Fire, a revolutionary city.
Tourism, at the time it appeared in the early 20th century, was conceived as a pretext to attract financial, cultural and symbolic wealth. Tourism became part of Barcelona’s sense of self, its cultural identity and its political aspirations. This was the dream of a Greater Barcelona.
Tourism reveals the dilemmas we face. The current debate is not a question of “tourism: yes or no”; it is not even a question of the need to design a responsible, sustainable and profitable tourism model. The question is, what kind of city do we want?
Tourism must be integrated into local government strategy, with the aim of managing it from an urban, global and interconnected perspective. The time has come to put into action the values of responsible tourism and citizenship.
We have to ask ourselves what gives the authors of the new Catalonia tourist campaign the right to so willingly give away the region to outsiders.
As long as our tourism sector is based on the creation of poorly-paid jobs, not only does it create scant value but redistributes this to the benefit of tourists and tourist operators, and to the detriment of the rest of society. The current model is leading us to a serious conflict.
As long as our tourism sector is based on the creation of poorly-paid jobs, not only does it create scant value but redistributes this to the benefit of tourists and tourist operators, and to the detriment of the rest of society. The current model is leading us to a serious conflict.
