Towards responsible and inclusive tourism
Tourist activity in Barcelona is associated with a series of externalities and impacts that have a negative effect on the public and on tourists themselves. On the one hand, tourism is currently a source of greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants. As well as increasing the city’s energy and water consumption, tourist activity puts increasing pressure on public space and urban services. On the other hand, the economic performance of tourism in the city is related to the precariousness of employment in certain sectors of the city.
All of this translates into an activity that, although it represents a very important part of the municipal GDP and of the labour market, results in a series of criticisms from local residents. Given the expectations of growth in the sector in the coming years, the various EU commitments to reduce emissions and the growing pressure of the sector on the public, new mechanisms are needed to meet the challenges ahead and, above all, to rethink the way in which tourism is developed in the city.
The Barcelona Tourism Lab seeks to establish a constructive dialogue between social actors belonging to different areas related to the tourism sector, paying special attention to those entities that form part of the Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) in the city.
The project aims to advance in the creation of a roadmap towards low-carbon and inclusive tourism, to understand the opportunities and challenges of the SSE, to adapt the destination to climate change and to explore actions in terms of mobility and decarbonisation.
With the support of the Barcelona City Council programme Impulsem el que fas for the promotion of initiatives within the social and solidarity economy sector.
