An overwhelming majority of tourists visiting Barcelona never set foot outside the city, with just 8% venturing into the wider Catalonia region, according to the city’s tourism commissioner, José Antonio Donaire. This figure highlights a major challenge for officials grappling with how to decentralise tourism and alleviate pressure on the city’s most congested hotspots.

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In a wide-ranging interview with El Periódico, Donaire, a recognised tourism expert appointed to the post in June 2023, outlined the city’s multifaceted strategy to manage its success. This approach includes limiting accommodation, managing visitor flows, and encouraging exploration beyond the usual landmarks.

“Only 8% of the tourists who visit Barcelona leave the city,” Donaire stated, acknowledging that most day-trippers stay within a very close radius. “We would like to better connect Barcelona with the majority of the country, with Penedès, Priorat, Girona, or Central Catalonia.”

To address this, the city is backing a new platform from the Turisme de Barcelona consortium with a €1 million investment aimed at generating high-quality tourism products that will entice visitors out of the urban core. Donaire, who hails from the Costa Brava, conceded that poor public transport links to other parts of Catalonia remain a significant barrier.

Stabilising the Influx

Barcelona’s strategy is no longer about growth, but stabilisation. Donaire described the recent 0.7 percentage point drop in hotel occupancy as a sign of success, not a cause for panic. He explained that a drop of less than 1% indicates an adjustment, attributing this to the city’s deliberate policy of limiting accommodation supply through its Special Urban Plan for Tourist Accommodation (PEUAT).

“We have to get used to the fact that Barcelona has opted to limit the accommodation on offer. It’s a complicated bet, but a successful one,” he said. “When you limit supply and maintain latent demand, the final result is stabilisation. We have reached the growth threshold that the city has set for itself.”

A significant milestone in this policy will arrive in 2028 with the city’s planned ban on tourist apartments. These properties currently house around 16% of visitors, or over two million people annually. The City Council expects increased hotel occupancy and new accommodation in designated areas to absorb this demand. To prevent the issue from spilling into neighbouring towns, officials are in talks with municipalities like L’Hospitalet de Llobregat to develop a coordinated metropolitan response.

Managing the Crowds

Within the city, efforts are focused on decompressing eight identified “High-Flow Areas” (Espacios de Gran Afluencia), which include perpetually crowded districts like Ciutat Vella and the Eixample. Specific measures are already in effect, such as reducing the number of visitors to Park Güell by half a million-a site where recent inspections revealed hundreds of violations by unofficial vendors.

Other initiatives include new rules at the famous La Boqueria market to reduce products for immediate consumption, scaling back terraces on La Rambla, and implementing a new system for tourist coaches.

This coach system, which requires operators of the 75,000 buses in the city to pre-book one of 59 slots to drop off and pick up passengers, is designed to reduce noise, pollution, and traffic chaos. However, the move has not been without controversy, sparking protests from official guides concerned about the tight 12-minute window for passengers.

A New Mix of Visitors

Looking ahead, the city aims to rebalance its tourism profile. The strategic goal is to shift from a model where leisure tourism dominates towards an equal, one-third split between leisure, professional, and cultural visitors. Currently, professional tourism accounts for 18-19%, with cultural tourism slightly lower.

Developing new cultural assets, such as the planned Thyssen museum on Passeig de Gràcia, is crucial for this shift. So too is the global profile of the Sagrada Família, whose status Donaire believes will be elevated by the upcoming completion of its final main tower and a potential Papal visit. “It transcends tourism, it puts you on the map,” he remarked.

Meanwhile, urban development plans are aligning with tourism strategy. Mayor Jaume Collboni recently unveiled a €260m blueprint to transform the La Sagrera area into a new green hub. It is one of the few districts where the PEUAT allows for new hotel construction, and Donaire noted the city’s satisfaction with the high percentage of local, family-run hotel operators in Barcelona, whom he invited to invest in the area.