Street art as a sustainable tool in mature tourist destinations: a case study of Barcelona

ABSTRACT

Tourism is one of the activities most urgently in need of innovation and creativity to keep the boom going. This paper seeks to understand how mature destinations and tourism managers devise innovative and sustainable solutions in everyday practice. Current trends in demand call for active experiences that generate emotions, stir up feelings, present content, and provide a dose of pleasure. The case study presented here is an innovative street art project called Pinacoteca a Cel Obert (Open-Air Art Gallery), a clear example of reactivation, recovery and urban development that involves the local population and associations as part of the local government’s drive to encourage community participation and empower change with regard to urban issues. The viability and sustainability of this commendable example are analysed through in-depth interviews with the respective project managers, the guides who run the tours and the visitors who have participated in the tour.

KEYWORDS:

• Tourist experience
• governance
• street art
• sustainability
• mature destinations
• Barcelona

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Montserrat Crespi-Vallbona

Montserrat Crespi-Vallbona is Associate professor at the Business Department at the University of Barcelona (UB), Spain. Member of the Business Research Group and researcher at the Investigation Project (I+D) New mobilities and socioresidential reconfiguration in the post crisis context. She completed her PhD. in 2002 and her research is related to the analysis of the evolution and dynamics of tourism activity and its driving force, i.e., tourism impacts on economic, social, cultural and urban structures of the territory. Published papers in Journal of Heritage Tourism, International Journal of Cultural Policy, International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, Tourism Planning and Development, Current Issues in Tourism, Tourism Geographies Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing, Cities, British Food Journal among others.

Oscar Mascarilla-Miró

Oscar Mascarilla-Miró is Associate professor at the Economics Department at the University of Barcelona (UB), Spain. He completed his PhD. in 2000 and his research is related to urban economics. Published papers in Urban Studies, Housing Economics, Cuadernos de Economía among others.