Tourism-Based Urban Economies Will Have to Innovate to Survive the Pandemic

Instead of saving its ailing tourist business, Barcelona needs to redefine its economic model.

This year, the “massive tourism economy” the city has come to depend on has crashed like a sandcastle. The current challenges that the city is experiencing this year are not a result of the pandemic, are the effects of betting most of its chips on international travelers. It took only a few months of the current crisis to frame the entire model with a big question mark.

Fortunately, Barcelona already has world-class universities and business schools, excellent telecommunications infrastructure, and people willing to risk starting new businesses. The latter is part of the Catalan DNA of entrepreneurship.