Tourism in Spain

Tourism in Spain

Spain is a touristic country, millions of foreign travelers are attracted by the beaches and the variety of dining opportunities, in addition to being one of the richest nations in the world’s cultural heritage. Spain is the fourth largest country in the world for the number of foreign tourists, with 52.7 million tourists per year in 2010. The main tourist destination is Catalonia.

 

Barcelona – Plaza de Catalunya – was the most visited Spanish city of Spain in 2013.

The climate also contributes, which is quite warmer and sunnier than in other European countries. The temperatures in summer are usually between 20 and 40ª C and many regions have more than 300 days of sunshine a year, with generally dry summers. Many coastal towns are full of hotels, restaurants and apartment buildings at the foot of the beach.

 

The Balearic Islands – Cala of Trebalúger (Menorca) in the image – is the second tourist destination in the country. The north of Spain has a climate somewhat cooler and wetter. Many Spaniards and foreigners are attracted by El Camino de Santiago or the fiesta of San Fermín. The Spanish gastronomy is wide and varied, with typical dishes such as paella, cocido madrileño, fabada, jamón ibérico, seafood or fish.

Foreign tourism

Tourism reported in Spain was 52,525 million during the year 2010, which was in second position in the economic revenue.

Spain received a total of 56.17 million foreign tourists during the year 2011, a 6.6 % more than those recorded in the same period of the previous year, according to data from the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism, 80% of them came by plane. Of these, 84.3 % came to Spain for reasons of leisure or vacation, 7.2 per cent for reasons of work or business, 4.8 % for personal reasons, and the rest for other reasons. The number of tourists has grown markedly since 1950, but not their nationalities. Most of them came from western and northern Europe, and they are usually German, British, French, Italian and Portuguese.

Index Entries

Tour tourists as autonomous community of main destination. As a percentage of the national total. 2012

 

 

 

In 2006, residents in Spain made a total of 155,658,725 and 656,401,609 travel overnight stays within the country.

Of the total travel of the national tourism, 81,113,556 were made on the grounds of holiday or leisure, 43,856,547 by visits to family members or friends, 18,951,595 for reasons of work or business, 7,743,083 by studies, and the rest for other reasons.

In addition, the Spaniards made a total of 10,676,395 95,166,570 travels and overnight stays abroad.

Research of tourism in Spain

Spain is also a major power in tourism research and analysis. The Spanish official responsible for research and tourism analysis is the Institute for Tourism Studies. Spain has two universities of scientific research in Tourism: Balearic Islands University and University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

The Expiatory Temple of the Holy Family – located in Barcelona – is since 2012 the most visited monument in Spain. It´s currently under construction and scheduled to be completed in 2026, coinciding with the centenary of the death of Gaudí.

Silvia Martínez López 3º ESO A