The Agència Catalana de la Joventut (ACJ), the Catalan Government’s youth agency, has requested urgent explanations over a complaint that Catalan was excluded from commentary on an Ebro Delta cruise booked through Xanascat, the Generalitat’s public youth-hostel network.
For Xanascat guests and families using its activities, the immediate consequence is that the reported excursion on the Ebro Delta was delivered only in Spanish, despite the complaint stating that the captain and many passengers were Catalan speakers. The ACJ’s Director of Youth Services, Pep Serrano, said on 25 August 2026 that it had sought explanations from hostel teams and the agency’s central services.
Complaint concerns cruise operated by Creuers Olmos
Journalist Marc Serrano i Òssul made the complaint public after travelling on the boat operated by Creuers Olmos, one of two companies running routes to the Ebro’s mouth. He and two other users told El Món that every explanation during the trip had been given in Spanish.
The cruise was contracted through Xanascat as part of a Generalitat public service. In a separate account of the trip, Serrano said the activity was a river journey of about 45 minutes to view the landscape and wildlife of the Ebro Delta Natural Park.
“It is positive that there has been a response, that there is somebody on the other side, although it would be more positive if there were a correction by the company.”Marc Serrano i Òssul
Serrano said Xanascat was not the direct provider of the cruise, but called for greater care when the Generalitat contracts suppliers in relation to language rights.
Complaint referred to consumer and language bodies
Serrano said the case had been referred to Plataforma per la Llengua, a Catalan language rights organisation, and to the Agència Catalana del Consum, the Catalan Consumer Agency. He also said protest reviews had been posted online.
According to Serrano, the issue also affects the wider experience of guests at Generalitat youth hostels, where some staff do not address customers in Catalan regardless of whether they are directly employed or external contractors.
Pep Serrano told the complainant that he would be kept informed of the steps taken by the Generalitat.
Primary sources: govern.cat. Reported by elmon.cat, collector.com.tr, Redacció/Fonts, Gisela Badenes, localitybiz.es, Raül Garcia i Aranzueque, El Món.
