Barcelona mayor Ada Colau, running for re-election as candidate of the Barcelona en Comú ticket, has begun the week that launches the election campaign - the starter's gun will be fired at midnight between Thursday and Friday - putting on the table one of the issues that could capture the attention of the political debate in the run-up to the 2023 municipal elections: the impact of tourism in the capital of Catalonia. In this regard, she has announced a shock plan with four measures, two of which were already well known, a refusal to expand El Prat airport and a decrease in cruise ship activity, and two that she now incorporates into her electoral manifesto, a plan to revoke licenses for both tourist apartments and souvenir shops.
Speaking from the Mirador de l'Alcalde, a location on Montjuïc mountain which literally translates as "the mayor's lookout point" and is a great spot to look over cruise ships in the port, although there weren't many docked this Monday, Ada Colau, in the company of the number three on her list, Janet Sanz, announced a "minimal programme" to fight what she sees as "the risk of overtourism". In this respect, she reiterated her refusal to expand Barcelona-El Prat airport, because "Barcelona cannot afford 20 million more tourists a year, which is the figure we would have with the expansion of the airport", and also the need to propose legislative changes to "decrease cruise ship activity", with the aim of limiting monthly cruise passengers to a maximum of 200,000, in comparison with the peaks of 400,000 that can currently be reached.
Revoking tourist flat licenses
In addition, the head of the BComú list indicated two further measures, the first of which is to force a "reduction in tourist apartments" by way of "revoking licenses", an option that would only be possible through legislative changes in the Catalan Parliament. Of course, Colau did not miss the opportunity to criticize her predecessor in office and opponent in the elections, Xavier Trias, whom she accused of providing "licenses in perpetuity for large property holders at a price of 200 euros a piece". With regard to the fourth measure, complementary to the tourist flat question, Colau also claimed that there is room to revoke licenses for souvenir shops, because it is a type of retail commerce that "devalues life in the neighbourhoods".
To achieve these changes, however, Ada Colau knows that it is not be enough to return to the mayoral office, since these issues are beyond the jurisdictional capacity of the City Council, which is why she appealed to the forces of the left, "who are the majority in the City Council and Parliament" - specifically the Socialists and ERC - to be able to apply these legislative changes, and positioned herself as a guarantor that these measures will be carried out if she succeeds in returning to the mayoral office for a third term.