Tourists arriving at Barcelona’s airport or visiting its iconic Sagrada Familia Basilica this Easter holidays will be greeted with large signs in English reading: “Drought warning. During your stay, save water “.
As the effects of climate change intensify across southern Europe, Spain’s Mediterranean region of Catalonia, which includes Barcelona, is facing its worst drought on record.
Reservoir levels are only 15% of their capacity, leading to restrictions on water use by residents, visitors, agriculture and industry. Among other restrictions, showers are closed on the beach and swimming pools cannot be filled with tap water.
Catalan authorities have appealed to tourists to act responsibly, but are also adamant that the drought should not stop them from coming to the Spanish city and region most visited by foreigners, where Tourism contributes 14.5% to the local economy.
“The message from Catalonia’s tourism agency and business department to campsites and hotels is one of calm: (people) can enjoy their holidays here as usual,” said David Mascourt, the regional government’s environment chief.
Barcelona’s hotel association warned in February that the city could not afford to project the image of hotels abroad with empty pools. Lobbying by hotels prompted officials to relax the blanket ban on filling pools, allowing desalinated water to be used instead.
“Tourists are not afraid of the drought and are not aware of it (before arriving),” said Manel Casals, director of the hotel association. “If we are not careful, Barcelona’s image will be affected (by the dry restrictions) but we are not aware of any negative effects so far. Tourists are still coming.”
Tourists visiting Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí’s Sagrada Familia confirmed they knew nothing about the water restrictions before seeing the billboard.
“Of course, if tourists were aware of the situation they could use less water,” said Finnish traveler Johan Saltin.
According to a recent Hotel Association study, Barcelona hotels have halved their water usage since 2016, although five-star hotels are still using the most – an average of 242 liters of water per day in 2022 – And all hotels represent 9% of the city’s consumption. Current water restrictions order residents to use only 200 liters of water per day.
Tourism over-saturation is already prompting protests by some Barcelona residents and the drought could further exacerbate the issue.
Holding signs such as “Let’s turn off the tap on tourism” and “Without water rivers and aquifers, hotel pools are full”, environmental activists protested at Barcelona’s tourism agency on Wednesday and demanded sanctions for the sector .
“It is indecent in the situation we live in that tourists are worried about sending (avoid) an image of danger, while our real problem is that our territory is drying up,” protester Josep Sabate said.
