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| Britons on the Benidorm beach |
A record number of British tourists have visited Spain in 2016 owing to terror fears associated with the sought-after tourist destinations including Turkey and Egypt.
The number of British travellers who arrived in Spain had increased by quite a large percentage in more than 10 decades to a new high in the year 2016. The latest figure has defied the expectations of a slowdown in the bookings following the Brexit vote in June and the consequent downfall in sterling.
The trend seems to continue even this year.
The early bookings of Britons for 2017 summer vacations in Spain has risen by nearly 16% on last year, as per the travel market analysts GfK.
The policymakers and economists of Spain had feared that its tourism sector would bear the brunt of sterling’s fall against the euro following the Brexit vote. The tourism industry accounts for 11% of the economic output.
For several years, Britons have been the largest group of tourists to the country of Spain in terms of nationality.
The pound has shed a bit over 10% against the euro since the referendum of 23rd June. Some people see it weakening further once the EU divorce talks have commenced.
However, the predictions of a rapid Brexit-led slowdown in the economy have misplaced these concerns.
Last year, the number of Britons arriving in Spain have increased by more than 12% in 2016 to 17.8 million people. Cristobal de la Rosa, the Vice Councillor of Tourism in the Canary Islands said that they are really content with the tourist figures since there has been a sharp rise in the numbers instead of a drop.
Rosa also added that the tourism sector wishes to retain Spain as an interesting travel locale once Britain quits the European Union.
The Canary Islands that used to attract more than one in three tourists that are represented by Britons, has been working towards strengthening the links with Britain. This connection dated back to the 19th century.
During this point of time, the Britons used to reside at grand hotels on the islands, as they used to believe that the regional climate at this area is beneficial for health.
Tenerife had launched a ‘Hug a Briton’ campaign in order to motivate the local inhabitants to welcome British tourists and post photographs of encounters on the social media platforms. This would signal that Spain is affectionate towards Britons in the wake of the vote.
