Barcelona Global presents the proposals to improve the relationship between the city and tourism
The 1st Barcelona Global Summit: Innovation in Urban Tourism was attended by more than 300 people
Wednesday 21st of March, Barcelona Global presented in CaixaForum Barcelona the 1st Barcelona Global Summit: Innovation in Urban Tourism, making it the first time the entity organised a congress of these dimensions.
The president of Barcelona Global, Gonzalo Rodés, explained the proposals of the association to improve the management of tourism in Barcelona, based on the analysis of the success stories of New York, Miami, Cape Town and Amsterdam, amongst which you can find: boost public-private collaboration (counting on the private sector to develop and invest in areas of interest); use technology to improve the visitor's experience and convenience with the resident, in particular to improve mobility and housing; music as an activity of value added generation (introducing a surcharge in the Tourist Tax); and improve the perception of tourism by the resident by visualizing the contribution of tourism and the responsibility of the sector.
Amongst the international experts we counted with: Carl Weisbrod, NYC Department of City Planning, Deede Weithorn, Former Commissioner of Miami Beach, Julie-May Elligson, CEO of Cape Town International Convention Center, Geerte Udo, Director of Marketing at Amsterdam Marketing; which were inaugurated and closed by renowned Professor Greg Clark CBE, one of the most respected city consultants of the urban planning world.
Angel Díaz, President of Advanced Leisure Services; Juan Julià, Founder and Owner of Axel Hotels; Chris Nagy, Principal at WhiteLabel Creative; Pau Guardans, President at Único Hotels and Vicepresident at Barcelona Global; Michael Goldenberg, General Director of Spain and Corporate Group Director at Value Retail; and Luis Falcón, Co-founder and CEO at InAtlas, developed the proposals for Barcelona.
Finally, the panel on "Barcelona visions" with 2-star Michelin chef Ramon Freixa; architect, Co-Founder and CEO of Miralles Tagliabue EMBT Benedetta Tagliabue; Antonio de Lacy, Chief of Gastrointestinal Surgery Department at Hospital Clinic Barcelona and President at AIS and Fernando Aleu, MD, Chairman at Queen Sofia Spanish Institute, New York. In addition, the panel was moderated by Pau Guardans.
The event counts with the involvement of more than 40 companies and institutions representing the diversity of the sector and with the support of the World Travel & Tourism Council.
To know the proposals in more depth, we attached the dossier down below.