Live News From Spain As It Happens

WE OFTEN talk about beaches on here. If much of northern Europe was asked to name a country they would head for on a short-haul flight on the very next warm day to be able to lie on a beach, Spain would probably be mentioned quite a lot. 

And actually, people living in Spain spend their winters looking forward to the beach, with even many living near one taking an annual holiday to a different part of the country that has another. 

Expats often get laughed at by their friends and families in their native lands when they say they live on the Mediterranean mainland and take a beach holiday in the Balearics, or they live on the Costa Brava and book their holidays in Murcia and do nothing but relax on a beach. Even though it would never strike anyone as silly if a person living in London, which is replete with art galleries, booked a city break somewhere in Europe and spent it visiting all the art galleries.

A national survey carried out by Loving Tourism found out that whatever happens with the pandemic and provided travel is not limited to your local supermarket, 45% of people living in Spain fully intend to take a summer holiday this year, and another 33% are considering it, meaning only 22% are not planning to do so (and it could be because they plan to take it in the winter, or they live in a town with a perfectly good beach anyway).

Of those who would, at least, like to go on holiday, even if they do not intend to this year, 56.4% said sunning themselves on the beach would be their top choice.

Beach-love is not limited to those in a cold climate. It seems it's an integral part of human nature – there's another research question for evolutionary anthropologists to get their teeth into; what is it that's integral to us as a species that gives us an innate need to make a beeline for the nearest coast?
 

Read more at thinkSPAIN.com