El abundancia. Spain’s tourism is back to pre-pandemic levels. The country even passed France as the number one destination in the world, for international tourists, during the slowdown. Can the pace of growth continue?
Sitting in an improbably quiet room on the Spanish Tourist Board stand in Hall Nine, a few feet from the thunder of noise and activity that is Fitur 2024, Minister Rosana Murillo thinks yes.
“The metric should be the experience, not only the number of visitors,” she cautions. She adds, as tourism ministers tend to do, that expenditure is a more meaningful measure of tourism success than raw numbers and cites the growth of natural reserves and parks in Spain over the past 10 years.
But, when it comes back to the numbers, Spain is on a winning streak. In 2023 visitor arrivals reached 85,056,528, up 2.7pc on the record 83.7m achieved in 2019, and up 18.7pc year on year.
Irish visits to Spain are climbing even faster, to reach a record 2,477,429 in 2023, nearly 420k more than the previous record of 2,053,385 set in 2019, up 13.8pc on pre pandemic 2019 and up 18.6pc on 2022. When the six counties are added in, the figure is three million, a phenomenal visit rate from our island of 7,052,314 people.
Her own special relationship with Ireland.
Minister Rosana Murillo already has her own very special relationship with Ireland. It dates to her Erasmus year at UCD where her studies were augmented with an occasional evening at O’Neill’s of Pearse Street and the Cobblestone.
She says there is a loyal Irish market that has already visited Spain and is likely to return and explore. Spain is seen as a secure and friendly country for Ireland’s visitors.
“We met with Ryanair last week,” she says, “and it is amazing the plans they have to grow in Spain, because they still think that there’s a capacity for growth. Most interesting is that they are really open to fly to new airports or to airports in places that are not so popular yet.”
Her tourism policy is on maintaining quality and managing visitor numbers in certain parts of Spain while growing in lesser-known areas. Spain also aims to grow in new markets, including China, Asia, and Latin America.
For more mature markets, the marketing message will emphasise the hidden treasures and diverse experiences across Spain, and aim to increase visitors to the north of Spain for summer vacations, city breaks, shopping, and museum are examples of successful growth.
“I think this is the key, not to concentrate everybody on the same already well-known places but to let our visitors get to know everything that Spain has to offer, off the beaten path.” “The new destinations in the north but also growing in some in the South that they are open all year round, so I think they can maintain a sustainable operation there. “
“Off season and off the beaten path it is still a problem that access is sometimes not great and the hotel stock is not very high. But we are extending the season in the main places. What is allowing us also to grow in the Autumn and spring, the shoulder season, is niche groups where people go to enjoy the astronomy, to enjoy the museums, to look at our historical patrimony and the heritage. This has really a phenomenon.
“The north of Spain it is really booming. For instance, it was great to get a direct route from Dublin to Asturias for the first time. That was a fabulous job from the regional government that was pushing really hard to have new connections.”
And don’t forget that even if you don’t have direct air connections, we have a great high speed train network. Madrid to Asturias to the north opened in November. and Madrid to Murcia and Alicante in the south. The high-speed train system has already boosted year-round tourism in the northern region, reducing seasonality.”
The routes Ireland does NOT have
What parts of the jigsaw remain to be filled? Some existing routes from Ireland, like ITAA conference venue Almeria, appear to be in abeyance. In line with her desire to see more tourism development in the northern region, including Galicia, Cantabria, and the Basque Country, she would like to see routes there. In the south, the airport in Granada has a lot of capacity, she says, and Granada is a beautiful city.
She says opposition to tourism growth, particularly in aviation, should be addressed with factual data and scientific information, while addressing concerns about overcrowding and sustainability. “We need to be rigorous with the data, because there is so much misinformation out there.”
Ms Murillo says the 2023 heat wave is not a major concern for tourism in Spain. “The preference for sunny and warm destinations is unlikely to change. The impact of heat waves and rising temperatures on inbound bookings is still uncertain, but it is a concern for the well-being of citizens and the environment.
Spain’s warm climate and lifestyle is part of the appeal to tourists, especially those from Ireland. “When you consider tourists go to the Emirates, where 40 degrees is not regarded as unusual.”
Spain has established itself as a leader in sustainable tourism (a recent award by lonely Planet is a particularly prized accolade) and Ms Murillo believes in the importance of transforming the industry for long-term sustainability. “Implementing measures for circular economy, waste management, and sustainability is important, not just for Spain but for all of Europe.”
“Tourism impacts all corners of the economy, creating a multiplying effect. Tourism is part of the answer to rural depopulation in Spain. Preserving traditions and crafts is crucial to maintaining Spain’s uniqueness. Those crafts makes that make us unique, we have to preserve them and help people to produce and not leave their home villages, not to close the show. It is essential that we encourage local production and support businesses in rural areas.”
Spain is more than a coast.
Her message to the Irish consumer? “Spain is more than a coast. There is more to Spain than just popular destinations like Malaga, offering diverse experiences in rural areas and preserving cultural heritage.”
“Close to Madrid, Toledo is the mix of the three cultures, the Christian one the Jewish one and the Muslim one and so you can have and see monuments museums and arts belonging to the three cultures.”
Spain offers other opportunities for unique nature tourism, including bird watching, fishing, and diving. “For example last year I was in the international birds observation event in Extremadura. It was amazing the thousands of people going there to do bird watching okay. It’s a type of tourist that I would love to see come more to Spain.”
“Last year we opened a new nature reserve in the Balearic Islands. This is something we must communicate and must let people know.”
And the minister’s own secret place? “I’m a diver and this is fabulous: a marine preservation in Majorca called El Toro where you can dive and visibility can be up to 35 metres.”
Just don’t tell anyone.
