Tourism is ‘necessary for broadening horizons and avoiding walls’, says Sánchez at global summit
Thursday, April 4, 2019 @ 12:43 AM
SOCIETY ‘needs tourism to broaden its horizons and so as not to build walls’, Spanish president Pedro Sánchez said today (Wednesday) at an international industry summit in Sevilla.
He opened his speech at the World Travel & Tourism Council by thanking the global sector leaders present for their plans to invest up to €3 billion in Spain in the next few years, and by highlighting the ‘enormous potential’ of the rural holiday industry in the country, ‘not just because it is so attractive’, but because this sector is ‘a great future opportunity’ for facing up to ‘one of the nation’s main challenges’, that of re-populating villages in danger of extinction.
Sanchez recalled that Spain is ‘the number one global powerhouse’ in tourism, breaking even its own records in 2018 with 83 million international visitors – almost doubling the resident population – and some of the highest amounts spent by holidaymakers ever registered.
This said, Spain is a little concerned about the impact on the industry of Egypt, Turkey and Tunisia, which for years were considered off-limits due to perceived terrorism risk and are once again attracting sunseekers to their beaches, undercutting Spain on price.
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