Barcelona is going to live the experience of the Copa del América in a few months. It will not be the Olympic Games, there will not be thousands of volunteers, but, like those, its relevance will be measured by the legacy it will leave in the city. While what happened around '92 left an urban, architectural, cultural, sporting and international positioning legacy, what the regatta will leave behind will be more intangible, at least physically, since its legacy is expected to be the development of the so-called blue economy, that related to the sea and the activities that take place there.
The blue economy is going to be a second discovery of the sea for Barcelona. After decades of living with our backs to the Mediterranean, citizens discovered beaches and sailing thanks to the Olympic year. Now we are going to discover the sea as a productive economic structure, and that will mean that its exploitation must be done in a sustainable way. There will be no blue economy in a lifeless sea.
This sector includes all maritime activities, from fishing and transportation, port logistics, nautical sports and tourism, among other activities. The blue economy as Barcelona's strategic line was defined before the emergence of the Copa del América. Now, this event will act as a catalyst and may allow for faster development. In fact, the regatta is not so much a sporting competition, but rather a technological race, involving cutting-edge navigation engineering. The best nautical engineers will be in Barcelona, and if the continuity of the Catalan capital as headquarters is achieved, it is expected that it will attract more talent, more technology companies, more innovation and more economy of what is now also called 4.0. The objective is for Barcelona to become a leader in Europe and the Mediterranean in the blue economy. And this is going to be the thermometer of success or failure of the Copa del América.
Now we call it the blue economy, but it has been with us for thousands of years without knowing that it was called that. It began when humans discovered that, if they caught more fish than they needed to feed themselves, they could trade the surplus. Along with agriculture, it was the beginning of the economy. Today, the blue economy already represents 4.3% of the city's GDP and employs 16,000 people, which represents 1.4% of employment. For now, Barcelona's potential in this sector has already attracted, in addition to the America's Cup, the World Ocean Council, the non-governmental business organization that leads the development of the sustainable maritime economy and has established its global headquarters in the city. for now until 2026.
The '92 Games left a legacy in the form of beaches, rounds and dozens of new facilities and urban improvements. The legacy of the Copa del América will have nothing to do with it, but it can be very relevant for Barcelona's blue future.
