2024-07-11 22:29:03
Are you going to Spain for vacation this summer? You will not be alone. The second tourism in the world after France, the country should receive a record number of visitors this summer, according to professional groups in the sector, looking for solutions to movements that oppose tourism which is increasing in the country.
According to data published on Thursday by the tourism promotion company Turespaña, based on the Ministry of Tourism, 41 million foreign tourists can visit Spain during the summer season, after 33 million of it was recorded during the first five months of the year.
This number is 13% higher than that of summer 2023, the year of the previous record. It should be accompanied, according to the ministry, by a sharp increase in revenues through tourism, expected to increase by 22% this time, to almost 59 billion euros. This confirms “the success of the Spanish tourism model”, said the Minister of Tourism Jordi Hereu during a press conference, emphasizing the increase in the expenditure linked according to him to the promotion of the Spanish offer.
According to the National Institute of Statistics (INE), Spain welcomed 85.1 million foreign visitors last year, mainly British, French and German. Given the current strength, the record figure should be greatly beaten in 2024.
According to Caixabank economists, Spain could welcome more than 90 million foreign tourists this year, thanks to the “economic recovery in Europe” and the “security” image associated with the Land Iberian peninsula, in a situation where international tensions are strong. The employer company Exceltur, which published its own statistics on Wednesday, for its part predicts an increase of 4.6% in tourist income in 2024, thanks to a strong increase in summer attendance in the Basque Country (+ 8. 3%), in Andalusia (+ 7,4%) and Madrid (+ 11,5%).
If these predictions are confirmed, the “market of the tourism industry” of Spain “will exceed 200 billion euros for the first time” this year, which “will increase the contribution of tourism to the system- Spanish wealth to 13.2%,” said Exceltur.
Objection to tourism
These predictions come as movements hostile to tourism are increasing in the country, from the Balearic Islands to the Canaries via Malaga and Barcelona – where several thousand people marched again on Saturday to demand measures against this protection.
The demonstrators objected to noise, pollution, the decline of transport infrastructure and increased rents, while many property owners are turning to tourist rentals, which are more profitable. “Tourism is absolutely important for Spain” but we must do it in the face of its “negative effects”, has known the Minister of Tourism Jordi Hereu at the end of June. “We will not prevent people from coming to Spain, but we can limit the supply of tourists,” he also assured.
A message said by Ramón Estalella, general secretary of the hotel group Cehat. “We must strive to keep and take the keys to the success that makes Spain a world landmark in summer tourism,” he ruled in early July.
Growth “Write clear and unstoppable”.
Faced with this anger, many regions have recently taken measures to curb the problem, such as Barcelona, year 2029 to facilitate the residents’ access to housing. The method was encouraged by the government of socialist Pedro Sánchez, who worked to create a registry of tourists and temporary residence in order to fight against the illegal rental of certain apartments. This registration could come “in March or April 2025,” Jordi Hereu said on Wednesday.
“The unlimited growth of tourism in high season in areas under tension is clearly impossible,” Exceltur knows, who warned against the reactions of some residents – tourists have been attacked with water guns in days recently in Barcelona. These behaviors are “more than reprehensible” and create “damage to the international reputation” of the tourism sector, “on which many people depend” in Spain, concludes the organization of employers.
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