What happens when a travel platform partners with the people most affected by tourism?
Barcelona’s Las Ramblas needs no introduction. For years, it has symbolized both the success and the strain of European tourism. A postcard-perfect promenade that became overcrowded, overpriced, loud, and, for many locals, unlivable.
So when GetYourGuide, one of the world’s largest online tour platforms, partnered with the Associació de Veïns de les Rambles (a neighborhood association that has long pushed back against the excesses of tourism), in 2022, it raised eyebrows. Could a booking platform built on selling more experiences work hand-in-hand with local residents who want fewer tourists?
As it turns out: yes, if they’re aligned on how tourism should evolve.
The future of travel isn’t about volume – it’s about value. And value is created when tourism enriches rather than extracts from the places people visit.
Toni Bennasar, GetYourGuide’s General Manager in Spain
Together, they launched a long-term initiative to support the urban revitalization of La Rambla by rethinking what tourism contributes to the street, the neighborhood, and the people who live there. In 2024, seven antennas were quietly installed along the 1.2-kilometer stretch of La Rambla to better understand footfall patterns: who comes, when, and how they move. Adding another layer of insight to inform more balanced, community-aware decisions.
The collaboration blends urban development research, cultural programming, and local engagement to bring the community back to the center of the tourism equation.
It’s an ecosystem of actions, rather than a one-off marketing campaign. Some actions are small, some symbolic, some systemic.
– There’s Tast a la Rambla, an annual food festival that turns the boulevard into a showcase for local chefs and products, not tourist traps.
– There’s a poster series, co-created with local artists in partnership with Elisava and Massana, 2 of Barcelona’s long-standing design schools. Each piece challenges the idea of what a souvenir is, and who it’s for.
– And there are free cultural experiences for residents, like walking tours and open access for residents to ride Las Golondrinas or visit the Wax Museum. Because a living city is one where locals feel welcome, too.
The initiative focuses on redistribution – of attention, of spending, of visibility. Instead of asking tourists to avoid La Rambla entirely, it invites them to see it differently: to notice the stories behind the storefronts, to explore nearby streets that rarely make it into travel guides, to support businesses that reinvest in the neighborhood.
Our responsibility extends beyond just connecting travelers with experiences – it’s about cultural preservation and ensuring that La Rambla remains authentic for generations to come. We believe in responsible tourism, which leaves a place better than it found it.
Toni Bennasar, GetYourGuide’s General Manager in Spain
There’s no app. No loyalty scheme. No over-engineered tech layer. Just good, honest work between a local association that’s been advocating for La Rambla for decades, a city government under pressure to restore livability, and a travel company willing to use its platform to promote more thoughtful travel.
It’s meaningful because it asks a deeper question:
Can travel businesses become stewards of place, not just sellers of access?
In this case, the answer is yes, when they stop thinking of “locals” as marketing props and start engaging them as partners. Amics de la Rambla brought history, trust, and grassroots perspective. GetYourGuide brought visibility and global reach. The city helped clear a path. Together, they created something rare: a public-private-civic collaboration where incentives were aligned not around growth, but around balance. That’s a small but vital shift.
Why it matters:
- It shows that platforms can rethink their role, not just as intermediaries, but as curators with responsibility.
- It centers local voices in tourism product design, in a co-creation process.
- It offers a replicable approach for destinations under pressure: pairing scale with intimacy.
There’s no miracle fix for overtourism, but this is a model worth watching. It reminds us that even the biggest travel companies can choose to participate in more equitable, community-rooted tourism. If they’re willing to share power.
That’s exactly the tourism we want.
