La Pedrera Breaks records for tourist visits

BARCELONA- The Centre Cultural Caixa Catalunya (Caixa Catalunya Cultural Center), which includes the La Pedrera exhibition area and the Gaudí Space, was the cultural installation with the most visits in Barcelona during 1999, according to a study performed by the Barcelona municipal tourism institute.

The Centre Cultural Caixa Catalunya hosted 1.3 million visitors last year, which represents a 29.87 percent increase from 1998, when it was visited by more than a million people.

Another of the sites most preferred by tourists was the Sagrada Familia, also by the architect Antonio Gaudí, which became the city's second most visited site in 1999, with a total of 1.2 million visitors. The great unfinished temple received 100,000 visits less than the Pedrera, although its visits also increased by 11.74% compared to the previous year.

The importance of these tourist centers has become a key for the good performance of this economic sector during the past fiscal year, which Joan Gaspart, President of Turisme de Barcelona (Barcelona Tourism Board), qualified as "excellent" and "record-breaking" for the tourist industry in the city of Barcelona.

El Mundo