The Market received a visit from a group of representatives from the Centro Vivo Commercial Network of Valdivia. During the visit, a discussion was held on topics such as the Barcelona markets model, its direct regulation or the importance of tourism in the city.

On Wednesday 21 the Market was visited by a group of representatives from the Centro Vivo Commercial Network of the city of Valdivia, Chile, led by its director, Estela Villanueva. At the meeting, different topics were discussed, including the Barcelona markets model and associationism and the direct regulation of Barcelona markets, preferably focused on assisted self-regulation.

There was also time to study the importance of tourism in Barcelona’s existing model and go over its pros and cons, while also explaining the services offered by Boqueria Market Traders Association. Since the objective of the Centro Vivo Commercial Network is to energise the centre of Valdivia, to the south of the Chilean capital, Santiago, the visitors expressed their concern about transforming this urban area, which also has a market with many years of history.

This group of Chilean traders has started to implement activities in this field after witnessing the deterioration of this Chilean city, in which the closing down of shopping malls has had a relevant impact on the city centre and contributed to the degradation of public areas and a reduction in retail activity. The group aims to find a solution to these problems through actions to strengthen competition such as workshops, commercial activation in urban areas and urban improvement guides.