Two months before the municipal elections and with the cruise schedule for this season practically closed, the municipal government of Barcelona (or, rather, the representatives of BComú in the cabinet of the mayoress Ada Colau) has moved to the action and has revived the battle against this tourist activity raising the flag of limiting it.
The Deputy Mayor of Ecology and Urbanism, Janet Sanz, has sent a letter to the Councilor for the Presidency of the Generalitat, Laura Vilagrà, in which she demands the "urgent" convening of a meeting to set "a reasonable limit to the 'arrival of cruise ships in port this summer'. The government presided over by Colau, which estimates the limit at a maximum of 200,000 passengers per month, demands "a clear and precise regulation, without prejudice to the study of other measures that can be agreed in the medium and long term".
Sanz reiterates his government's concern for "the massive increase in cruise tourism" and recalls that the Generalitat-Barcelona City Council joint commission agreed on June 2, 2022 to create a study table for this activity. "Today - points out the head of Ecology - we are not aware that the Generalitat, the port or the State have taken any specific action neither in the short, medium or long term". Sanz adds that the employers' association of the sector (CLIA) made forecasts indicating that this year the record figures of 2019 will be reached, with almost 3.2 million visitors. "These are alarming data," says Janet Sanz. Data that do not match those of the port, which considers that this year the cruise activity, although it is recovering, will not yet reach the pre-pandemic figures.
Janet Sanz reminds Laura that other cities are already taking steps to reduce the impact of cruise ships. This is the case of the Balearic Government, which has set a limit of three boats per day and only one with more than 5,000 passengers, Venice, which has restricted the number of boats to prevent them from entering the city, or Dubrovnik, which limits visits daily to two ships and 4,000 people.
One of the new arguments of the City Council, that of water consumption in times of exceptional drought, has found a replica of the port, which participates in Seatrade, the most important fair in the sector, which is held in Fort Lauderdale (Florida ). The Port of Barcelona has pointed out that, thanks to the technological and innovation efforts of recent years, consumption is only a quarter of what an inhabitant of the city does. He adds that in 80% of the stops that cruise ships make in the city, there is no water load, as the ships have desalination and water purification systems. He also remembers that base port cruise passengers, who end or start their journey in Barcelona, will represent 60% of the total this year.
For this 2023, the forecast of cruise calls is around 800 and in 62% of the cases they correspond to ships less than 10 years old and, therefore, less polluting.
The director of CLIA, Alfredo Serrano, reminded La Vanguardia that in 2018 the City Council itself signed an agreement with the port that limited the number of terminals to seven. He considers that the sector, which has adhered to the commitment to sustainable tourism promoted by the Generalitat, is doing everything it can to improve environmental conditions and remembers that the problem of water management is precisely one of better resolved for the same reasons that the port exposes.
