Sustainability
Like many destinations, Barcelona has to balance the needs of today’s tourists against conserving the environment of the city for the future. There is no doubt that tourism is a major industry in Barcelona and sustainable projects need to manage the negative impacts of tourism.
A lot of noise and air pollution is cause by traffic moving around the city and in recent years Barcelona has developed a number of schemes to reduce the traffic pollution. These schemes include:
- Making more areas of the city pedestrianised and reducing vehicle access to central shopping zones. This scheme has reduced traffic congestion and pollution as well as having a positive impact on the economy of the areas where the scheme operates.
- Cracking down on double parking and illegal parking. This allows traffic to flow freely and reduces pollution.
- Developing cycle lanes and cycle parking to encourage locals and tourists to use vehicles less and travel by cycle.
- Park and ride scheme from outlying stations, encouraging locals and tourists to leave their vehicles outside of the city.
- Developing bus lanes and giving buses priority. This encourages the use of buses for transport in the city. Buses are seen as an environmentally friendly form of transport.
- Offering walking tours of the city which reduces congestion and pollution.
Activity
Design a poster encouraging tourists to use buses in Barcelona to encourage sustainable tourism. (Check out the routes of the tourist buses to help you.)
Produce a flyer with information to encourage tourists to take part in a Walking Tour, include information about the many benefits of touring by foot.