Picking up the thread interrupted by the news from Ceuta, I continue with my proposal for practicable solutions to the main problems of Catalonia.Tourism accounts for more than 12% of our GDP. Now it is time to move from volume to value. Tourism cannot grow any further—we are already under strain—but we must redirect it by moving from quantity to quality, because it is a source of wealth that is difficult to replace in the short term.We have two types of tourism: vacation and urban. The former is seasonal, is linked to low-value services—sun and beach—and has little gross value added. The latter, on the other hand, is linked to business, congresses, conventions, culture, gastronomy, etc. They are two different activities, with diverse social and economic impacts, which require specific treatments. We want, and must achieve, more quality and less volume; more income and fewer people. This is the paradigm that must be explained and that implies social problems that the citizenry needs to understand. The measures that are taken may be unpopular because they are uncomfortable and may affect the income of those who live from it.The conclusion is simple: we want urban tourism —which generates benefits in various economic sectors, such as science, industry, or business— and we want to limit vacation tourism —the excesses of which can lead to environmental degradation, to the erosion of the physical heritage that makes Catalonia attractive, and to a corrosion of social coexistence due to the rejection that the activity generates in part of the population. This duality leads to the need to limit the rental of rooms for tourist use, which exacerbates the housing shortage. Its prohibition has been announced starting in 2028, as well as the need to control daily visitors, who—coming from the coast near Barcelona—account for about 7 million more tourists, who contribute little value but generate significant congestion. Furthermore, Barcelona does not have the same problem as large metropolises like London or Paris. Although the scale of the problem may be the same, the size of the city is not; therefore, the effect, in Barcelona, is N times greater and affects the entire city, and not just the monumental area, as is the case in Paris and London.What is not wanted requires effective containment measures to avoid it. For example, the number of tourist buses arriving in Barcelona could be limited. Society knows the tourist reality; the citizenry will not oppose measures that seek to contain holiday tourism. Its capacity must be limited. We have 150,000 beds in Barcelona. Why are we increasing the supply? Why do we limit the number of hotels in Barcelona but not in the metropolitan area? Why have we allowed, and are now correcting, the renting of rooms? It makes no sense, but it is allowed. We have created the problem for ourselves and now we want to solve it. That is fine, but there have been inconsistencies in these policies.
Measures such as reducing the number of operating cruise terminals and hotel supply —in short, measures that limit tourism capacity— are heading in the right direction to redirect a demand that is currently overwhelmed. However, this policy will have to be tightened and adjusted over time depending on the circumstances, which are constantly changing. Those who rent out rooms will find a way to circumvent the prohibition…Barcelona airport is at the limit of its capacity, while those in Reus and Girona—a city connected to Barcelona by high-speed train with 40-minute journeys—are underutilized infrastructures. It would be convenient, for example, to increase intercontinental flights to Barcelona and limit European ones there to improve the quality of service. There are possible policies that are not being mobilized because the airport's governance is conditioned by the profit of its operation, being as it is a company under a monopoly regime. The key question is whether the airport's governance is conditioned by what is best for Barcelona and Catalonia or by the profit and loss account of Aena, which has turned the airport into an immense shopping center with high prices. The answer is obvious, but it is the public administrations that are responsible for mobilizing containment measures. The airports of Barcelona, Reus, and Girona are instruments of primary importance for modulating the effect of tourism in Barcelona and Catalonia. A monopoly is allowed, to which no limits are placed.With the exception of Barcelona, it seems that in the rest of the country the necessary measures —agreed upon by all— to limit tourism and improve the quality of service are not being taken due to a certain laziness and the feeling of a lack of urgency. The feeling is one of a certain neglect due to the sentiment that “it is not that big of a deal,” because the business is working. I believe this is an erroneous feeling that delays the implementation of urgent measures which need coherence among themselves to be effective. If these transversal policies were mobilized, they would count on social support. The citizenry needs to know what will be done and how it will be done if we want to boost the measures, and also know what sacrifices carrying them out will entail for them.Concrete measures are needed to solve specific problems, and they must be taken with transparency so that the public accepts them.
