An Analysis of Tourism in Spain

An Analysis of Tourism in Spain

Spain is the second largest country in Western Europe after France, which is located in the south-west part known as the Iberian Peninsula.

It is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea in the south to the east, Atlantic Ocean to the west and the Bay of Biscay to the north. Spain is bounded to Portugal, France, Morrocco, Andorra and Gibraltar.

The population of Spain is 40 million, and the capital is Madrid.The main language is Spanish, however the two largest minorities in Spain known as The Basque ( area of Bilbao ) and Catalunyans ( Barcelona ) speak their own languages as well as spanish. These two minorities

developed into an autonomous societies is Spain, to separate ethnic realities. It shows how great and vivid is the culture in Spain and has a great impact on art and tourism industry in the country.

The Tourism in Spain is one of most important and valuable types of industry in the country. It brings over 6 billion pounds income every year, of which approximately 4-5 billion comes from the UK itself.

In my report I am going to discuss and analyse the impacts of tourism on the country and its society, but first I would like to start from the beginning of this touristic boom in Spain. It began in the

mid 1950's after General Franco urged and commited his government to the promotion of tourism in order to overcome the economical crisic of the troubled country, which was mostly agricultural.

It was not a very difficult task to do, because Spain was a country with a lot to offer. Sandy beaches, forrests, salt marshes, rocky bays, mountains and medieval cities are all showing the great variety

of landscapes, which helped to transform Spain into one of the most desirable tourist destinations in the world.

Franco managed to encourage mostly foreign, but also domestic investors to build many recreational complexes along the Mediterranean shore. The country had less than one million tourists in the 1950,

but that number rose steadily to reach more than 34 million in the 1973. It shows how big was the increase of tourists visiting Spain straight after the tourist promotion campaign launched by Franco and urbanization of the country.

In the next section of my report I am going to describe and explain the most popular trends and patterns of Tourism in Spain.

The most popular touristic areas in Spain are the Balearic Islands, Canary Islands and the Mediterranean coastal arreas. (www.refernce.com)

It is so due to to the climate and temperatures of average 12-14 degrees all year around and with white, sandy beaches attracting a lot of tourists from the UK and Scandinavians.

According to the website mentioned above, The Balearic Islands accounted