Barcelona turns its “gastronomic revolution” into a great tourist attraction

Barcelona raise the curtain again its best gastronomy after two years of pandemic that wreaked havoc especially in this segment of the hospitality industry. In just six months they have reopened or premiered 25 “excellent” restaurants who have drawn a new perfect scenario to turn the kitchen in the best international ambassador of the city. Barcelona Tourism, aware of the power of this trick to attract quality travelers throughout the year, presented the campaign on Tuesday ‘The gastronomic revolution continues in Barcelona’, with the presence of twenty top chefs.

The new initiative aims “relaunch Barcelona as a gastronomic destination of reference”as well as boosting the economy of the visitor and the restaurant sector, highlighting related values ​​such as “innovation, talent, creativity, genius and the product”, highlighted the director of the consortium, Marian Wall. After the first revolution led by figures such as Ferran Adrià, Carme Ruscalleda, Santi Santamaria or the Roca brothers a quarter of a century ago, placing the Catalan capital at the forefront of gastronomy, and which managed to awaken new generations of chefs, the sector is a post-pandemic reactivation which he now wants to realize, fully supporting emerging chefs, he stressed.

It should be remembered that due to its characteristics, equipment, costs and logistics, haute cuisine has experienced many months of closures and indebtedness, while its economic viability it was almost impossible with only a local public.

“Barcelona wants to be a leader in quality tourism,” insisted the first deputy mayor for Economic Promotion, Jaume Collboni, who praised the economic engine represented by the city’s 9,000 businesses (5,597 restaurants and 3,290 bars). With 29 Michelin stars in 19 establishments, and a repertoire of bistros that put their power within the reach of demanding palates but perhaps with less comfortable budgets, the city defends play gastronomy as one of your main cards in the face of the qualitative improvement of tourism preached by both the city council and other entities.

Traveler’s interest

And the data supports the attempt: more than 90% of travelers (92.4%, in 2021) go to restaurants to taste the local cuisine; each visitor allocates more than 50% of spending to gastronomy and the gastronomic visitor spends 24% more than those who come only on vacation. In the case of the United States, it could be 30% higher. In fact, this traveler 45.2% of North American tourists have among their favorite activities “enjoying good restaurants.”

For this reason, beyond the marketing action –with a emotional video of the city and its geniuses of fire (opened by Adrià) and an initial investment of 400,000 euros–, the strategy will reach the presentations made by Barcelona Tourism at an international level. “It will be long-distance,” added its president, Eduard Torres, pointing out that despite the boom in travelers that is currently being experienced, it is unknown how the activity will evolve. He has recalled that the Catalan capital is segmenting its public and gastronomy is at the center of the story of a strategy linked to decentralization and deseasonalization.

From Spain to the USA

From the outset, the key markets to conquer through the palate are the rest of Spain (on Thursday there will be a launch dinner in Madrid), Great Britain, Italy, Germany, France, the Netherlands and the Nordic countries, and actions in the United States (New York and Boston). They want to sell Barcelona “uniqueness” at the table, from local tradition to the most innovative cuisine.

In the presentation it was explained that the so-called ‘new revolution’ andIt is starred by chefs who are still in their forties, “committed professionals and entrepreneurs, with personal, unique restoration projects that continue with the DNA of Barcelona cuisine”, with the common denomination of passion and talent, the commitment to the product of proximity and the ‘contribution to democratizing haute cuisine, bringing it closer to a large public’. Many of them, and other leading swordsmen, such as Oriol Castro (Enjoy), Jordi Artal (Cinc Sentits), Jordi Cruz (Àbac), Sergi Torres (Torres Brothers Kitchen), Albert Enrich (La Mar Salada), Tomàs Abellán (Savia), Ada Parellada (Semproniana), Albert Raurich (Dos Palillos), Jordi Vila (Alkimia), Romain Fornell (Caelis), Rafa Penya ( Gresca) or Nandu Jubany have attended the staging of the campaign, at the Fundació Miró.

For him Councilor for Tourism, Xavier Marcè, This gastronomy is directly linked to other local values, such as markets or local and seasonal products, which is why it also hopes to obtain European funds to deepen this line. “We want whoever visits us to know why they want to come and we have to give them content,” he defended. Gastronomy allows this interaction all year round (not in high season) and is aimed at a client with medium-high purchasing power, more than 35 years and interest in the native culture.

tall stoves

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The reopenings or novelties have been happening in recent months. The list includes Enigma, by Albert Adrià, and Teatro, with the Iglesias brothers at the helm. Also Alapar, with Jaume Marambio and Victoria Maccarone; the Mexican Come, by Paco Méndez, and Tamae Bar, the ‘open kitchen’ that brings together bar and Delivery by Albert Raurich and Eugeni de Diego. Without forgetting the strength of hotel kitchens, from Rafa Zafra at the helm of the new Amar at the Palace for a few weeks; Gastón Acurio back at the Terrat at Mandarin Oriental Barcelona; Alain Guiard with Contraband at the Wittmore Hotel; Rafa de Bedoya at the Aleia de Casa Fuster, or Víctor Torres at the head of Quirat, at InterContinental Barcelona.

According to data from Barcelona Tourism, the most interested visitors in restaurants come from France and Belgium, followed by the national market. Tourists value the local gastronomy with a note of 8.4 out of 10 on average, especially Americans (8.72).