Great minds think alike

I was chatting with one of my students last week about the lack of facilities for tourists in our comarca (district), the Anoia. It is a beautiful area, less than an hour from Barcelona, and yet there has been relatively little done (IMHO) to promote the tourist industry, especially for non-Catalan visitors. I wondered if I should write a short travel guide in English.

I was surprised to find that the editors of La Veu, our local newspaper, had had a similar idea – well, not to write a guide in English, but to publish a three-page special feature in Catalan on local tourism (unfortunately not available on their website).

The initiative of La Veu is all very well, and there is a wealth of interesting information in their feature, but it won't draw in many visitors from outside the district simply because they won't have read it. The district needs new sources of income, especially with local unemployment running at 20%, and tourism seems a better bet than its traditional strong points of leather tanning, paper manufacture and sheep farming.

So, as an native English speaker living in these regions, I shall attempt to use some of my posts to promote the attractions of the area, and some practical advice for those who wish to sample them. As ever, all comments welcome!