A video filmed by Turisme de Barcelona in collaboration with the city’s Municipal Institute for the Disabled, promotes Barcelona as an accessible tourism destination for people with functional diversity. The promotional video, entitled Easy Barcelona, showcases Barcelona as an open and accessible city, offering numerous facilities, including museums adapted for the blind, accessible beaches and signed guided tours.

Turisme de Barcelona has expressed its full agreement with the results that emerged following the reflection period aimed at reaching a Local Agreement for a responsible and sustainable tourism management strategy that will allow industry to fit in with the city and its residents’ daily lives. The conclusions of this project, carried out at the initiative of Barcelona’s Mayor, Xavier Trias, were presented by the coordinator, the academic María Abellanet, during Turisme de Barcelona’s Extraordinary General Meeting held on 9th April.

IESE Business School Professor Pedro Nueno believes that El Prat Airport should increase its number of direct intercontinental connections in order to attract higher quality tourism and compete with other European hubs such as Paris, Frankfurt and Munich, which attract the majority of passenger traffic to Asia, America and other long-haul destinations. Indeed, this was one of his key messages included in his speech at the Barcelona Premium meeting, held on 21st April at the Gran Teatre del Liceu opera house.

Turisme de Barcelona is determined to strengthen ties between tourism and the world of entrepreneurship and will therefore once again be attending Bizbarcelona, the networking event for companies, entrepreneurs and sole traders that will take place at the Fira Barcelona exhibition site on 1st and 2nd July. This year’s event will be focusing its attention on SMEs and will be divided into two differentiated spaces: Bizemprèn (dedicated to entrepreneurs) and Bizpimes (small and medium-sized enterprises).

Microfinance or micropatronage provide an alternative to the traditional forms of funding offered by savings banks and financial institutions and the number of newly-created companies operating the tourism sector that opt for this solution is set to grow. Mac Parish, Operations Director for Crowdcube in Spain, is a staunch defender of this innovative way of turning the projects of countless entrepreneurs into a reality. This young American, born in San Francisco, is passionate about his work and the city of Barcelona, where he arrived just nine months ago. Unlike many other young foreigners that flock to the city, prior to his arrival he had already been hired to join Crowdcube Spain, the subsidiary of a UK company specialising in this sector.