The summer of 2016 saw Spain’s best tourist season in 15 years, yet industry experts forecast the potential for a rather less fortuitous future for the second-biggest foreign tourist industry in the world. With popular destinations including Barcelona close to saturation point and a growing trend for budget-conscious holidays, the tourism of tomorrow is uncertain.
According to Jose Luis Zoreda, Vice President of Exceltur—the sector’s employers’ association—lower interest rates and petrol prices in Spain, combined with unrest in other countries such as Turkey and Egypt, caused the record-breaking number of tourists (an estimated 75 million) to flood into the country this past summer. Nevertheless, experts predict it is unlikely that Spain will retain this peak in tourism. Philip Moscoso, professor at Madrid’s IESE Business School, highlighted the growing trend for saving money as one of the reasons for this: “More people are [flying] with low-cost airlines and opt for alternative types of rentals.” Indeed, popular ‘homestay’ website Airbnb has over 100 million users worldwide - a growing source of concern for hoteliers.
In addition, destinations all over Spain are approaching saturation, according to recent reports. Manel Casals, General Director of the Barcelona Hotel Association, saw hotel occupation in June and July reach 80-89 percent and predicted an even higher percentage for August. The enormous number of tourists may even pose environmental threats to Spain - in Mallorca, for example, dirty water infiltrated the Parc Natural de s'Albufera this summer when purifiers at a nearby resort’s plant stopped working correctly.