Jordi Valls (Manresa, 1960) is the fourth deputy mayor of Barcelona and has assumed the areas of Economy, Finance and Economic Promotion, in addition to directing the Eixample district, the most populous in the city.
Tourism management was one of the topics of debate during the electoral campaign. How are you going to manage it?
We have to share a vision with the sector and decide how we manage the 17 million tourists who visit us and who create a very significant density. Tourism represents 14% of the city's GDP and there is a high degree of dependency. We have to know how to manage the balance of the arrival of tourists and that it does not affect or generate discomfort, because they do, in the activity of the people.
Has Barcelona reached the tourist limit?
We already have it. And at certain times, the level of density is very high. But making this demonstration is not going against tourism. We do not want this success story to end badly, as a city we must know how to manage it. The sector has economic interests, but we must share that there will be certain limitations. The ideal would be to do it with the sector.
What limitations does it pose?
We will talk to the sector to see if we agree that we are touching limits and if we agree, we will have to touch different pieces. The City Council will not give up its regulatory capacity and its fiscal capacity. But I am interested in working with the sector, sharing the vision. We have a new reality. Twenty years ago, 90% of the city said that tourism was positive, now 60% say so.
And that happens by limiting the opening of new hotels?
That happens to maintain the PEUAT, there are hotel rooms available in the metropolitan area. We have already said clearly and exceptionally that some exception can be made for very specific cases.
And the tourist flats?
The City Council will not be neutral in the face of this reality. We want to discourage this activity in a clear way.
As?
From a tax and regulatory point of view. The City Council has done a very good job in recent years because it has stopped the growth of tourist apartments to 9,000 since 2015. We do not want them to grow and we will use all the instruments that we, as the City Council or Generalitat, can have.
What will you do with the cruises?
The port will do a very important job with decarbonization, but the discussion is whether we can have more growth in cruise passengers. Here you have to share visions. If we take the measures individually, they will generate headlines but they will not necessarily be effective. I believe that together everything can turn out better, but the City Council will not give up its regulatory capacity.
Janet Sanz asked to reduce cruise terminals at the end of her term.
You have to have ten-year vision. If not, we won't get it. Tourism is so important to us and there are so many interests that either we all share this reality or we will do nothing. Notes and press conferences are an expression of will but it is not a process of transformation.
Amsterdam has banned cruise ships. Do you share it?
It is debatable because Amsterdam has the port of Rotterdam one hour away, what it has done is shift the problem.
Will the tourist tax increase?
If necessary, yes.
Why use that rate?
We must better define what we want to use them for. A part of the money must be allocated to promotional elements that interest us, such as culture, but above all it must be used to pay for the services most pressured by tourism, such as cleaning or security.
What role should the Turisme de Barcelona consortium play?
An important paper. We have a Consorci de Turisme that has been without a general director for five years with a certain stability and that does not have the capacity to determine a vision. Turisme de Barcelona has been doing promotion for 30 years and now it won't have to do it, or not do it as much. We also have to see what we do with mobility, an internal management not exclusively at the demand of the sector because we also have to understand the demand of citizens and a balance must be found.
Does the weight of tourism in the city's economy have to continue growing?
If we agree we will make decisions. There are things that have to grow and others that don't. We must invest more in diversifying this economy. Bet on industrialization from a metropolitan perspective and develop sectors such as health, technology linked to defense that will grow by 2.5% of GDP in ten years.
The commercial sector complains about the difficulty that its clients from outside the city have to get to Barcelona due to the actions against the car. What do you propose?
It is not good to make a denialist approach to everything. I understand the claim of trade. There are things that are not just the car and I admit it, public transport must be improved. The more public transport the better, the more connectivity. Perhaps Barcelona has gone too fast and the improvement of public transport is going too slowly. There are people from Barcelona who have a car and have the right to continue having a car, we cannot prohibit absolutely everything. We have not appreciated that technology can help mobility. We have companies that want to work, like SEAT, and we have to take advantage of these opportunities. We cannot give the message that the city does not want cars when here you have a company that bills 14,000 million and that its main objective is the decarbonization of the system. We are all aware of the climate crisis, but the big discussion is the speed we give to that fight.
