Are the bars World Heritage Sites?

The pandemic situation we are still living through is having devastating effects on the hospitality industry in our country; it is known that there are around 300,000 hospitality establishments in Spain, of which between 20% and 25% will no longer open their doors, and the rest that do will struggle significantly to recover pre-COVID-19 turnover levels.

After France, Spain is the second country in the world in terms of the number of tourists, with more than 83 million travelers according to the World Tourism Organization, which translates to tourism accounting for 15% of the Spanish GDP.

Knowing this, it is easy to imagine that the tourism and hospitality sector in the current scenario will face a difficult recovery.

But not everything has to be bad news; a recent initiative has emerged, supported by famous faces from our country, to request that bars and the hospitality industry in general be declared World Heritage sites.

At www.soypatrimonio2020.org you will find all the information about the project and the link to sign the petition for the Declaration of Bars as World Heritage.

It may seem like a futile gesture, or even an out-of-place request, but if you think about it, it is very important to highlight the value of the hospitality industry. It is an important part of our Mediterranean culture; life flows in bars. Who has not fallen in love, laughed, and cried in a bar? Bars are part of our lives and it is time for them to be officially recognized.