The tourism board of Barcelona has updated its campaign slogan following overtourism protests in the popular Spanish city. Rather than “Visit Barcelona” the city’s tourism campaign now says “This is Barcelona”.
The updated campaign will launch on 22 August when Barcelona will be hosting the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup.
The rewording is a “radical change” from the city’s tourism campaigns to date, the board’s general director, Mateu Hernández told Travel Tomorrow. The board has used the “Visit Barcelona” slogan for 15 years.
The tourism board of Barcelona has updated its campaign slogan following overtourism protests in the popular Spanish city. Rather than “Visit Barcelona” the city’s tourism campaign now says “This is Barcelona”.
The updated campaign will launch on 22 August when Barcelona will be hosting the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup.
The rewording is a “radical change” from the city’s tourism campaigns to date, the board’s general director, Mateu Hernández told Travel Tomorrow. The board has used the “Visit Barcelona” slogan for 15 years.
“Visit Barcelona has been a success story that has responded perfectly to the challenge that the city and Turisme de Barcelona had set themselves at the time: to go from being an industrial city in crisis to a city where tourism was the driving force of change, which has happened”, Hernández 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.”
The new campaign will be shown during the Cup to an estimated 1.5 million viewers.
Barcelona is looking to attract ‘higher quality’ visitors – tourists who spend more money and take time to discover a destination sustainably.
A total of $9.1 million has been allocated to the campaign. It aims to highlight specific aspects of the city such as culture, art, music, sports, and food, rather than just the main tourist attractions.
Spain is the second most-visited country in the world. Whilst droves of tourists visiting this European hotspot are certainly helping to support the economy – 12 per cent of Spain’s total GDP comes from tourism and a recent survey has shown a strong correlation between Spain’s visitor numbers and its economic health – on the ground, the problems of over-tourism are starting to become apparent.
Spanish locals have not held back on their views about the impact of tourism. In July, protesters in Barcelona sprayed visitors with water whilst chanting “Tourists go home” as part of a demonstration against mass tourism.
