Barcelona cannot take any more cruise passengers, mayor says

Barcelona cannot take any more cruise ship passengers after a record 3.5 million visited in 2023, according to the city's mayor, Jaume Collboni.  

"The tourism burden that the city has at the moment cannot increase," Collboni said in an interview with Catalan newspaper Ara. 

We want to "promote Barcelona as a base for cruises, not as a stopover, which is what brings the least value to the city. We are interested in quality tourism," the mayor said. 

The mayor also criticized the "political irresponsibility" of his predecessor, Ada Colau, for rejecting the council's 2024 budget. 

"In ten days, Mrs. Colau's bad decisions have caused progressive budgets in Spain, Catalonia and Barcelona to fall," Collboni said. 

Podcast

To learn more about the cruise ship debate, listen to the podcast below.