A Spanish city has dropped a vital word from its tourism board slogan. Visit Barcelona will now be known as This is Barcelona in its latest measure to tackle over-tourism which has gripped the Spanish city for several years.
The new campaign will launch on August 22, during the sailing competition America’s Cup which will see the latest state-of-the-art vessels dock at the city’s coast.
The rebranding was described as a “radical change” by the board’s general director, Mateu Hernández, according to travel tomorrow.
The slogan Turisme de Barcelona has been in use for 15 years, he said. Hernández described the old slogan as a “success story”, which “responded perfectly” to the challenge the city and board set itself a decade-and-a-half ago.
From being an industrial city in crisis to a city where tourism was the driving force of change, he explained.
“But today, Turisme de Barcelona no longer calls for people to visit us in general. Today, Turisme de Barcelona makes an affirmation of the importance of our identity as a city and that is why we have gone from Visit to This is Barcelona,” he said.
The move forms part of the board’s strategy to move away from quantity to quality tourism, targeting more valuable and responsible visitors who spend more time and more money.
They wish to move away from day-trippers who disembark cruise ships for just a few hours a day, focusing instead on those who wish to take the time to discover the city more sustainably.
On Sunday, the city announced it is set to raise the tourist tax for cruise passengers who visit the city for less than 12 hours as part of its efforts to “tackle the consequences of mass tourism”.
The announcement was made shortly after the mass anti-tourism protests, which have been taking place in the Catalan capital and in other parts of Spain over the past few weeks. Currently, the tourist tax for stopover cruise passengers is seven euros, or £6.
The new campaign, which has been allocated a budget of over £4.6 million, aims to highlight specific aspects of the city, rather than its general existence as a tourist destination, such as its culture, architecture, art and music.
“It is the clear embodiment of a new and pioneering way of doing promotion”, Hernández said.
At the start of July, Barcelona’s residents took to spraying tourists with water pistols during a protest against mass tourism, so it is hoped that the change in slogan will be welcomed by residents.
Barcelona has been struggling to moderate footfall for several years. In 2022, measures were taken to tackle large groups, with parts of the city restricted to tours, while areas that remained open introduced strict noise and number regulations.
A busy bus route was also hidden from Google Maps to ensure residents, especially the elderly could use it.
In one of the latest moves, Mayor Jaume Collboni promised that short term rentals will disappear from the city by 2028. The 10,101 apartments currently approved as tourist lets are set to have their licenses scrapped in the next four years.