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, reducing the number of operational terminals to five starting next year, is part of a deal with Barcelona’s city council, as stated in a council release on Friday.
The agreement also allocates funds for a study to assess the movements of cruise-ship passengers throughout the city, which the council considers an initial step in crafting a sustainable mobility plan.
Furthermore, the agreement will focus on updating port infrastructure to enhance the sustainability of cruise operations. This includes enabling ships to connect to an eco-friendly onshore power source while docked, allowing them to turn off their engines and reduce emissions.
Overall, the plan will involve â¬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.
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.
Top 10 tourist destinations for travellers in 2024
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.
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.
