Spain's Tourism is on the rise this year again thanks to British

 This year so far has been a record year in terms of foreign visitors coming to Spain. Over 6 million visitors came to Spain in the month of June,  6.3M to be precise, for the first time ever and a record 5.8 million came in May. 40% of the June total were made up by Britons and Germans! 30% of the tourists that went ot the beaches of Andalucia in June were British and the Balearic islands saw an increase of 142,000 visitors on last June primarily thanks to British visitors. On the whole the UK is still responsible for the largest share of tourism expenditure at 22% of all visitors. So Spain continues to be one of our favourite destinations (unless you have won the lottery in which case it would be USA, according to a study carried out by Oxford Economics for Camelot)

May it stay that way for a very long time! 

Hi Ian. Yes, we are in a fabulous hotel at the moment - the THB Torrequebrada in Benalmadena and although the majority of guests are Spanish there is a smattering of British and Irish, French, Danes etc. I'm finding a lot of positive discrimination in favour of the British. Our Uruguayan barwoman yesterday was talking about how she loves the British and the Germans and our 'correct' ways. Of course that is a generalisation and we have our share of the baddies, but it is obviously nice to be so welcomed as a holidaymaker in Spain. I expect there will be a big return of British tourists to Spain, for the same reasons that the British have loved Spain for years.

Off now to the charming cafe for a cafe con leche and a glance at 'Sur,' no doubt with the usual articles on the corruption which has stained this country and for which there seems to be no answer, with so many people having taken a cut, and therefore unwilling to speak up as they are also implicated. It is in many ways fortunate that the foreign tourists often can't understand Spanish, because they can play their waterpolo in the pool and sip their pints, while gazing at the beautiful Mediterranean sea, with no idea what's going on. This ignorance will be useful in the quest to improve Spain's tourism industry.

Finally, another plug for this hotel - I just looked it up on the net and apparently some rather unsavoury characters used to come here - Roca for one, to spend the money he stole from the Spanish and British (and other foreign) people on the casino tables - but I'm not going to think about that. The location is stunning and the food and rooms and staff all first class and it's nice to see people working with a smile on their faces in such a beautiful place.