Spain enjoys tourism boom as terror fears stifle rival regions
Balancing shakily on her two-wheeled Segway, Valerie Matthews, who has travelled from the US city of Nashville to Spain with her 13-year-old granddaughter for a summer holiday, says she is up for a challenge.
“As many steps and bumps as possible, please,” she tells the guide from Madseg, one of several companies offering tours around Madrid on the battery-powered upright scooters. “Let’s make this interesting.”
In terms of her choice of holiday destination, however, Ms Matthews is playing it safe. As resorts in countries such as Turkey, Egypt and now even France, lose tourists due to the threat of terrorism or domestic strife, Spain has seen a surge in holidaymakers.
Egypt has reported a 60 per cent drop in visitor numbers so far this year, along with falls in other Middle Eastern and north African destinations after several years of instability. Hotel bookings in France’s southern Riviera region also dropped by as much as 30 per cent in the weeks after last month’s terrorist attack in Nice, according to France’s economy ministry
By contrast, in the first six months of this year, the number of foreign visitors to Spain was up 12 per cent on the first half of 2015. Tourist spending was also up 12.7 per cent in June, compared with the same month last year. Tourism offices in many destinations, especially the popular package resorts on the Costas, are reporting that hotels are packed.
“I first came to Spain 1996 and fell for the place,” says Ms Matthews. “I would love to visit the likes of Egypt but frankly the upheaval there puts me off. Why would I go at the moment? I’d like to visit France too, but look what happened in Nice — that also seems to be a problem. Spain is fine for me.”
Despite a spate of arrests of suspected jihadis across the country, and a warning from Isis and other groups that the Iberian peninsula is a target for attacks, Spain has so far been spared the violence seen elsewhere in recent months. Memories of the 2004 bombings by a local al-Qaeda cell at Madrid’s Atocha railway station are fading in the minds of tourists, say security experts.
Spain has come to rely ever more on tourism as it has emerged from recession, having been battered by a sharp downturn at the start of the decade. Tourism makes up 14 per cent of gross domestic product, according to the most recent central bank data in January.
Spain’s economy is expected to grow 2.9 per cent this year, overtaking previous estimates of 2.7 per cent. The country’s high unemployment rate — which at 20 per cent is second only to Greece among EU members — is also falling, partly thanks to tourism. On August 2, the registered jobless rate dropped to its lowest level in seven years, with the service sector accounting for more than 50,000 of the 84,000 jobs created in July.
“The tourism industry has been very good for Spain and, certainly in the short term, it is providing a boost to the economy. Doubts about other holiday destinations and a relatively low euro have really helped in recent years,” said Stephen Brown, European economist at Capital Economics.
However, Mr Brown added that tourism jobs often did not offer stability or long-term career prospects. “There is a danger that the government relies too much on tourism to justify improving employment patterns. Largely these are low-skilled jobs that can easily disappear.”
The changing fortunes of British tourists, the single largest group of visitors to Spain, pose another risk. The pound has lost about a tenth of its value against the euro since the UK’s vote to leave the EU six weeks ago. The Bank of England’s decision to cut interest rates this week will blunt Britons’ overseas spending power further.
But for now the surge in visitor numbers is instilling confidence. Officials in Benidorm, one of the Spanish coastal resorts famous for cheap package holidays, say hotel occupancy this summer is at a 16-year high of 93 per cent. The resort is also angling for wealthier travellers — it has even applied for Unesco World Heritage status.
“At the moment, we are struggling to find rooms for people who haven’t already booked,” says Carola Valls of Visit Benidorm, the resort’s marketing body. “Hoteliers have been able to charge much more than in recent summers and all the restaurants are full.”
Big Spanish cities are also welcoming more tourists — Madrid, for example, saw an 11 per cent jump in the number of tourists in the first half of this year. Ms Matthews and her granddaughter, who master their Segways within minutes, are just two of those arrivals.
This year’s jump in visitor numbers comes as no surprise to Antony Bruce, the Edinburgh-born owner of Madseg and a former Segway world champion.
“Even as recently as four years ago there were just three or four companies like mine. Now there are around 16,” he says. “Madrid, and the rest of Spain, is more popular than ever.”