BARCELONA. Giant cruise ships the size of tenements each dawn, while the city is still sleeping, begin to call at the port of Barcelona to disembark thousands of passengers who flood the streets of the Catalan capital in search of modernist architectural monuments and streets of the Gothic Quarter.

This scene is repeated every day in the city, drawing the ire of local authorities, according to an article in The Guardian newspaper. Last Monday, five cruise ships moored in the port, and next Friday, eight such giants are expected in the waters of the Catalan capital.

They don’t consume

However, the municipality decided to act. “Where you walk carelessly, you find yourself in front of a crowd of people who suddenly appear out of nowhere. They do not consume anything and do not bring financial benefits to the city. They stick around for four or five hours and leave,” says Jeanette Sanz, Deputy Mayor of Barcelona in charge of the environment, urban planning and mobility.

The city has been complaining for years about cruise ships and the 3.1 million tourists that empty its streets every day. However, these efforts were in vain, since the port of Barcelona falls under the jurisdiction of the port fund, and not the municipality.

However, this time, as Sanz points out in a recent letter to the local government of Catalonia, is the right time for the municipality to impose its powers on the port authorities. The municipality’s goal is to drastically limit the arrival of visitors from cruise ships, based on the precedent of Palma de Mallorca. At the end of 2021, the local authorities of the Balearic Island limited the parking of passenger ships to three per day, reducing the flow of tourists by 13%.

Drought problem

The city complains about being burdened by 3.1 million tourists a day, while the other side talks about the economic benefits.

Catalonia is also facing its worst drought in decades, which has led to water restrictions. “It is completely inexplicable how, at a time when we are suffering from such a shortage of water, the port is planning to receive a record number of passengers,” Sans says. The municipality is aiming to limit the number of cruise ship visitors to 200,000 per month, or five ships per day. Until that is done, residents and tourists residing in the city will have to contend with 25,000 cruise ship passengers to visit Barcelona’s iconic monuments.

This issue has caused considerable friction in the past. In 2019, then-municipal councillor, Gala Pin, said she supported a complete ban on cruise ship parking in the port of the Catalan capital. “This is a locust epidemic, they destroy public places and leave,” Ping said. The Port Authority at the time claimed that 80% of these ships did not require refilling their water tanks as they produced a large amount of water on board thanks to their desalination systems.

The Port Foundation released data showing that 58% of passengers stayed in the city for at least one night, spending an average of €230 compared to an average of €57 for day trips from cruise ships. Responding to Vice Mayor Sanz’s criticism, the Port of Barcelona highlights that 20% of the ships that will arrive at the port this year run on natural gas, while 62% of the ships arriving are less than ten years old.

In recent weeks, the issue has taken on particular prominence as the election season kicks off in Barcelona ahead of municipal elections at the end of May. In mid-March, residents of the city staged a demonstration under the central slogan “Stop the invasion of tourists.” “The violence we are subjected to by tourists is unbearable, there are tons of garbage, urine and feces on the streets,” the protesters manifesto says.

Demonstrations

Sanz characterizes the demonstrations as a sign of an urgent need to find a compromise solution aimed at the peaceful coexistence of permanent residents who are forced to get up for work and tourists. “We need to be a city that is tourist friendly, but not completely touristic,” Sans explained.

“If we have learned anything from the pandemic, it is that mass economic tourism – that is tourism without borders – is proving to be very costly for cities. We saw this during the pandemic, when entire areas were deserted without tourists. The responsibility to ensure that Barcelona does not become a theme park lies with everyone, especially those involved in tourism. The moment it becomes a park, the tourists will disappear forever,” notes Sans.