The Diplomat
The Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, said yesterday that the revival of tourism is her department’s top priority in 2021 and expressed her confidence that “in late spring and especially in summer” international travel to Spain will resume.
The minister closed the presentation of the Study on the Positioning of Spain as a Tourist Destination, prepared by the Elcano Royal Institute and TURESPAÑA, a document that analyses Spain’s position as a tourist destination and which was drawn up through 17,300 interviews in 33 countries in Europe, Asia and North and South America or in specific areas of some of the largest countries, such as China and the USA.
The fieldwork, which was conducted in September 2020 – at the height of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic – reveals that Spain is the preferred tourist destination in Europe for American or Asian countries, at the same level as Italy, while among Europeans the preferred destination is Greece (13%), followed by Italy (12%) and Spain (11%). The document also reveals that Spain has been visited in the last four years by 36% of the European population.
Apart from this, the study warns that the future of the tourism sector in Spain in the short term depends “essentially” on the COVID-19 resolution and that “it is to be expected that the sector will regain the attractiveness it had in 2019, at the pace of vaccinations in the countries of origin”. The study also shows that, beyond this cyclical factor, foreign tourists would like to find a more varied offer in Spain, with less overcrowded destinations, more tourist routes through natural environments other than beaches and more cultural routes.
“Our priority in 2021 is to reactivate tourism activity and resume safe mobility at a global level as soon as possible”, said Maroto during his speech. “We are working to adopt a common framework for predictable action to give tourists confidence and we hope that in late spring and especially in summer international travel will resume and choose Spain”, the minister added.
According to Maroto, health security is a barrier to travel, but it has not particularly affected Spain as a destination, nor has it damaged the country’s tourist image. “Tourists want to travel to our country again”, said the minister, who expressed hope that the availability of vaccines and the start of vaccination in many countries will help to immunise a high percentage of the population willing to travel safely.
For his part, the director general of TURESPAÑA, Miguel Sanz, announced during the event the launch of an information and promotional campaign, called Travel Safe, to inform travellers about the requirements and conditions for safe travel and to contribute to the recovery of confidence in tourism.
