Germany is a country of travellers. Three out of every four people go on holiday at least once a year. And Spain is their main foreign destination: over 10 million Germans visit the country on an annual basis – spending almost 10 billion euros – running a close second to the number of UK tourists to Spain. Almost half of them travel with a package deal from TUI, world leader in the sector. Sebastian Ebel is the CEO of TUI Germany.
The latest figures from Spain’s airports manager AENA, reflecting the importance of the tourism industry, support the estimations given by the Secretary of State for Tourism, which point to a total of 74 million international tourists by end-2016. If the predictions are confirmed, there will be eight million more international tourists visiting Spain in 2016 compared to a year earlier, when there was a record number of 68 million. But can Spain’s tourism regions survive this widespread growth?
No day goes by without us being told how wonderful this year’s tourism campaign is going to be, in terms of the millions of visitors and the billions of euros it will generate. The tourism campaign is focused on the third quarter, when everyone and their aunt is getting sunburnt. There are many more jobs, workers are needed, and this is reflected in the increase in the number of hours worked, normal and extra.
It’s unheard of Spain’s tourism sector, which many experts said was stagnant and mature ten years ago, has not only massively recovered but continues to beat records from one year to the next in terms of numbers of international tourist arrivals. Since it touched bottom in 2009, with 52.2 million foreign tourists, the sector has not stopped growing any year. In 2015, numbers reached 65 million, up 31% in comparative terms.
Spain’s tourism sector is on course for another record year in 2106, if the January figures are anything to go by. It looks like Spaniards are going to be on the move at Easter, both at home and overseas, taking advantage of currency depreciations in tourism destinations like Brazil.
After seven years of crisis, Spain’s economic model is tending towards what it was in the past. The country ‘s tourism industry is a leader in terms of competitiveness. Furthermore, last summer the sector performed the best it has for a decade.
Spain’s international tourist arrivals data continues to beat records, with 38 million visitors in the January-July period.
The Corner | March 31, 2015 | German and Spanish retail sales have improved markedly compared with this time last year. Unemployment figures for the euro zone are expected to fall slightly, while results of EU inflation figures will be keenly monitored in the wake of the ECB’s sovereign bond purchasing programme, launched earlier this month.
MADRID | The Corner | According to the tourist expenditure survey EGATUR, foreign tourists spent €56.374 billion in Spain in the first ten months of 2014, an increase of 7% compared to the same period in 2013, and a new record. The increase, however, is due to a greater influx of visitors.