José Antonio Donaire (Salamanca, 1968) has been for three months the commissioner for Sustainable Tourism Management of the Barcelona City CouncilA PhD in geography and tenured professor at the Faculty of Tourism of the University of Girona, he lives in the Gothic Quarter, where he witnesses firsthand the effects of a tourism sector that the city council believes has peaked.

The president of the Barcelona Hotel Association, Jordi Clos, called this Tuesday for saving half of the city's 10,000 tourist apartments to meet the full demand, breaking away from hoteliers' traditional rejection of apartments. A request that was immediately and categorically rejected by Barcelona's Deputy Mayor for Economy and Tourism, Jordi Valls, who put a stop to yet another demand from the sector.