Excessive optimism

At the time when a recession is starting to bottom out, as is the case in Spain right now, favorable economic indicators are usually the source of unmeasured euphoria. This was the case when figures showing a tiny improvement in the labor market were released, but should be avoided when it comes to the tourist sector.

It is true that the performance of the sector has been very strong; without doubt, this has been the best summer for tourism since the crisis broke. The influx of visitors from Russia (which many economists and sociologists predict is at the vanguard of a boom in visitors from Asia over the coming decade), Germany and Britain hit record levels in July and August, to the extent that 2013 could see Spain beat the record number of visitors for any single year of 58 million. Meanwhile, tourist receipts could end up surpassing 60 billion euros.

Part of this success story can be explained by one-off factors: rival tourist destinations such as North Africa and Turkey are not currently seen as safe. There is no guarantee, therefore, that the sterling performance of this year will be repeated in the future. However, no matter what happens in the future, the injection of funds from the tourism sector — which, it should not be forgotten, is the major industry in the country — comes at a difficult moment for the Spanish economy, which is suffering from a worrying weakness in consumer spending. Tourist receipts could help revive this area of the economy, although perhaps only on a temporary basis.

The fact that the sector is going great guns is not sufficient to justify febrile forecasts of an imminent recovery of the economy, something that has been seen among government circles. Amid the brilliant summer of 2013, there are some significant dark spots. One of these is the lack of confidence of Spanish tourists, who are still cutting short their vacations because of the state of the economy. It is wrong, therefore, to speak of a full-blown recovery. Another of these dark areas is the drop in the number of visitors received by Madrid, which in the month of August was down by 22 percent. This points to the suspicion that not all is well when it comes to the policies adopted for the tourist sector. The quality of the available infrastructure in certain areas leaves a lot to be desired, and the massive influx of visitors should not obviate the need for a more profound structural analysis of the situation.

Beyond the seaside vacation

To start with, there are questions about whether the strategy for the industry has been coordinated or is simply the result of a collection of regional policies, which have been developed with little cohesion. What’s more, since the 1980s there have been calls — some of them urgent — to broaden the traditional model of sun and sand for visitors with low-to-medium spending power to offers that attract tourists who are able and willing to spend more. But for decades now, little has been done in this respect, with the reliance remaining on the traditional seaside vacation rather than the more complex task of attracting cultural tourism, for example, which requires more planning and investment in new infrastructure. A lot of this is to do with the fact that Spain still lacks a common tourist policy.