Barcelona’s cruise ship port is to close two of its terminals, as part of efforts to fight the city’s overtourism problem.
The closure, which will bring the number of operational terminals down to five when it takes effect next year, is part of an agreement with Barcelona’s city council, announced in a statement from the council Friday.
The agreement also provides funding for a study to evaluate how cruise-ship passengers move around the city, which the council says is a first step in developing sustainable mobility plan.
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In addition, the agreement will involve the modernisation of port infrastructure to make cruise operations more sustainable – for example, by allowing ships to connect to a green onshore power supply while they are docked, meaning their engines can be switched off, cutting emissions.
Overall, the plan will involve €185 million ($331.6 million) in public-private investment, according to the council statement.
It is part of wider efforts to deal with the pressures of overtourism in the city, where local opposition to mass tourism has been rising in recent years, including a now-famous protest in July 2024 in which visitors were squirted with water pistols.
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Barcelona’s popularity among tourists has led to complaints from residents about overcrowding and a lack of affordable housing as apartments are given over to short-term holiday lets.
In 2024, the Port of Barcelona, the biggest cruise port in Europe, reported 1.6 million cruise ship passengers “in transit.”
The majority come ashore when their ships dock in the morning, tour the city, and return by late afternoon to sail for their next destination, the Barcelona Tourism Consortium press office said in March.
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The resulting crowds, at places like La Rambla street and in the adjacent Gothic quarter, the oldest part of town, are partly to blame for the ire among Barcelona’s residents.
Friday’s agreement is the latest in a series of efforts to reduce the impact of cruise tourism.
In October 2023, Barcelona closed its northern port terminal to cruise traffic, after an agreement with the local authorities to move ships further out of town.
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That move followed a 2018 agreement between the port authorities and the city council to “move cruise activity away from urban areas… making them more sustainable,” the port authorities said in a statement at the time.
Also as a result of the 2018 agreement, the port closed another cruise terminal, the Maremagnum, and the area is now home to restaurants, bars, a sailing club and marina, an aquarium and a shopping mall.
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