Figueres aiming to turn historic center into “total tourist experience”

Figueres City Council has presented a tourism sustainability plan with the aim of turning the city's historic center into a "total tourist experience".

The plan, for which the council has submitted a claim for Next Generation EU funds (NGEU), includes several projects with a total investment of around €5 million.

Among them are a comprehensive renovation in and around the Dalí Museum, such as the installation of statues of the renowned painter and modernizing the streets outside, making it more pedestrian-friendly.

In addition, Plaça Catalunya square in the town center may be adapted to house local products stalls for visitors to have a look at on their travels. Improvements to the roads that connect Figueres to other municipalities also hope to be made, such as the installation of pedestrian and bicycle routes, as well as enhancing the green space around these roads.

The main objective of the Tourism Sustainability Plan is to link together Dalí's birthplace, the museum and the castle of Sant Ferran, while at the same time turning the historic center of the city into a complete "tourist experience", and turning it into a new “green lung”.

"These are coherent proposals that can be implemented and agreed with the agents involved," said the mayor of the northern Catalan city, Agnès Lladó.

Another of the objectives is to make Figueres an "accessible" destination. To achieve this changes will be made to many of the town’s streets, such as making it so that the road surface and the pavement are on the same level.

The plan also includes digitalized management of car parks, a system to monitor tourists’ opinion and tourist flows, and a mobile application with tourist routes, among others.

The Councilor for Tourism and Culture, Alfons Martínez, explained that many of the proposed actions had already been planned and were part of the tourism strategy drawn up in 2019. In fact, he said that all of them were doable, but that if they had European funds they could be a reality "soon".

Positioning the city as a "top-tier" destination

"The aim is to position Figueres as a first-class urban and cultural tourist destination, taking advantage of unique attractions in the world such as the Dalí Museum Theater or Sant Ferran Castle," said the mayor.

Martínez pointed out that this is a project that could have a "huge impact on the city" and that many of the planned actions are already "very advanced".