Tourism in Spain
tourism in spain is the third major contributor to national economic life after the industrial and the business banking sectors contributing about 10 to 11 percent of spain's gdp ever since the 1960s and 1970s the country has been a popular destination for summer holidays especially with large numbers of tourists from the united kingdom ireland france germany italy the benelux and the united states among others accordingly spain's foreign tourist industry has grown into the second biggest in the world in 2019 spain was the second most visited country in the world recording 83.7 million tourists which marked the seventh consecutive year of record-beating numbers due to the coronavirus pandemic in the first 11 months of year 2020 only 18.3 million tourists visited spain these dramatic figures are devastating for the tourism sector and are a reflection of what will be the worst year for this industry in terms of income ever recorded spain ranks first among 140 countries in the biannual travel and tourism competitiveness index published by the world economic forum in 2019 matching the top position already achieved in 2017 and 2015. the world tourism organization has its headquarters in madrid according to the economist 2005-year list spain has the world's 10th highest quality of life transport spain's national airline is iberia but the country can be flown into on many international passenger airlines and charter airlines tourists also arrive in spain by road rail and over the water spanish freeways interconnecting the touristic cities are also linked with the french freeway network across the pyrenees the main train operator is renfa including avenue or talgo intercity services spain's high-speed rail link is the largest in europe and second largest in the world after china there is also a number of high-end tourism-oriented hotel train services such as transcontabrico summer resorts and beaches this type of tourism was the first to be developed in spain and today generates the most income for the spanish economy the mild climate during the whole year and the extensive sandy beaches of the mediterranean and atlantic ocean as well as of its two archipelagos have been attracting tourists from northern europe for decades the leading source markets of spanish beach tourism are the uk germany and france followed by scandinavia and italy and the netherlands the most popular spanish mainland coasts are on its mediterranean site and include from north to south clockwise the costa brava the costa dorada and the costa del mares me in the autonomous community of catalonia very popular with visitors from france as well as inland spain with notable resorts like salute and the city of barcelona the costa blanca and the costa della zahra are both in the valencian community the costa calida in the region of murcia and the marmanur a lagoon by the mediterranean sea the costa del maria the costa tropical the costa del sol and the costa de la luz all in the community of andalusia some of the summer destinations here are renowned worldwide such as marbella in malaga province or soto grande in cadiz province both destinations for tourists and summer residents with big purchasing power the city of malaga is a notable costa del sol destination and also one of the largest harbors in spain and frequented by cruise ships spain's two archipelagos the balearic islands off the mainland coast in the mediterranean and the volcanic canary islands in the atlantic are also both very popular destinations with spaniards and europeans in addition to the summer tourism other modalities like cultural and monumental tourism congresses sport or fun tourism have been developed in these areas including such famous cities as barcelona and valencia the biggest harbors of the spanish mediterranean coast many coastal or island places also have great ecological and natural importance theme parks like terra mitica tibidabo amusement park tivoli world and the resort porto ventura world or diverse water fun parks are also popular in 2014 spain broke its own record of blue flag beaches achieving 681 flags and becoming the leader in the northern hemisphere spain is also the leader in blue flags for marinas cultural tourism business tourism as a crossroads of several civilizations spain offers a number of historical cities and towns major destinations include spain's two largest cities madrid and barcelona which stand as two of the leading city destinations in europe both offer a matchless number of attractions and their importance in commerce education entertainment media fashion science sports and arts contribute to their status as two of the world's major global cities fifteen spanish cities have been declared world heritage cities by the unesco alcala de generas avila pisa caceres cordoba cuenca ibiza merida salamanca san cristobal de la laguna santiago de compostela segovia taragona toledo and eubaida as of october 2016 spain has 45 total sites inscribed on the list third only to italy and china of these 45 sites 40 are cultural three are natural and two are mixed as determined by the organization selection criteria other first-class destinations are seville granada santander oviedo kihon bilbao and san sebastian all of them with historical landmarks and a lively cultural agenda student programs besides hosting some of the most renowned business schools in the world such as ie business school esade or iesc business school spain is a popular destination for students from abroad in particular during the 2010-11 academic year spain was the european country receiving the most erasmus program students religion spain is an important place for catholicism in fact some of the holiest places for the catholic church are in spain city of santiago de compostela in galicia the third holiest place after the vatican city in rome and jerusalem it is also the terminus of the way of saint james santo toribio de liabana chantabria is the fourth followed by caravacca de la cruz at the southeast these places attract pilgrims and tourists from all over the world religion also has found its artistic expression through the popular holy week processions which become important in almost every town festival's most festivals turn around patron saints legends local customs and folklore among the most singular ones stand out the seville fair the romeria de el rocchio in almonte welva the world famous running of the bulls in pamplona the phallus in valencia the tamatina and bunol valencia and the fiestas del pilar in zaragoza the carnival is also popular all over spain but especially in the canary islands and cadiz there are renowned movie festivals all over the country the most recognizable being the famous san sebastian international film festival the malaga spanish film festival the semen sea the moster de valencia and the siches film festival the world's foremost international festival specializing in fantasy and horror movies music festivals includes the sonar the fib the festamat the primavera sound the bilbao bbk life the monegros desert festival and the sos 4.8 festival
several cities have hosted international events the 1888 barcelona universal exposition the 1929 barcelona international exposition the 1992 summer olympics all in barcelona the universal fair of 1992 in seville the 2007 americas cup in valencia and the expo 2008 in zaragoza in addition some spanish cities have been or will be european capital of culture madrid in 1992 santiago de compostela in 2000 salamanca in 2002 and san sebastian in 2016. nightlife the nightlife in spain is very attractive to both tourists and locals spain is known to have some of the best nightlife in the world big cities such as madrid and barcelona are favorites amongst the large and popular discotheques for instance madrid is known as the number one party city for clubs such as pacha and capital and barcelona is famous for opium and sutton famous clubs the disco techs in spain are open until hours such as 7am the boleric islands such as ibiza and mayorka are known to be major party destinations as well as favored summer resort and in andalusia malaga especially the area of the costa del sol ibiza is a relatively small island and its cities have become world famous for their associations with tourism nightlife and the electronic music the island has originated it is well known for its summer club scene which attracts very large numbers of tourists but the island's government and the spanish tourist office have controversially been working to promote more family-oriented tourism noted clubs include space privilege amnesia usually pacha dc 10 eden and s parity ibiza is also home to the legendary port in ibiza town a popular stop for many tourists and now a unesco world heritage site mayorka or mallorca is an island located in the mediterranean sea it is the largest island in the balearic islands archipelago in spain the capital of the island palma is also the capital of the autonomous community of the balearic islands the cabrera archipelago is administratively grouped with majorca the anthem of majorca is la billanguera like the other balearic islands of menorca ibiza and formentera the island is an extremely popular holiday destination particularly for tourists from germany ireland poland the scandinavian countries and the united kingdom the name derives from latin insulimior larger island later mayorica the larger one in comparison to menorca the smaller one winter tourism spain is a generally mountainous country with well-known ski resorts located in several parts of the country including the pyrenees the systema central the systema iberico and sierra nevada for the most part the main crest forms a massive divider between france and spain with the tiny country of andorra sandwiched in between the crown of aragon and the kingdom of navarre have historically extended on both sides of the mountain range with small northern portions now in france and much larger southern parts now in spain sierra nevada and spain is a popular tourist destination as its high peaks make skiing possible in one of europe's most southerly ski resorts in an area along the mediterranean sea predominantly known for its warm temperatures and abundant sunshine at its foothills is found the city of granada and a little further almeria and malaga parts of the range have been included in the sierra nevada national park the range has also been declared a biosphere reserve the sierra nevada observatory is located on the northern slopes at an elevation of 2 800 meters the sierra nevada was formed during the alpine orogeny a mountain building event that also formed the european alps to the east and the atlas mountains of northern africa across the mediterranean sea to the south the sierra as observed today formed during the paleogene and neogene periods from the collision of the african and eurasian continental plates nature and rural tourism spain is the second largest country in the european union its latitude puts part of the country in direct contact with the typical southern end of the atlantic polar jet hence spain's geographical position allows for atlantic fronts typically affecting its western and northern part whereas a mediterranean-influenced climate is generally prevalent in its eastern and southern parts with transition climates linking both main bioclimatic regions additionally the presence of several mountain ranges ultimately shaped the diverse landscape of spain another remarkable feature of the country is its vast coast as a result of being in a peninsula moreover there is the coast of the two spanish archipelagos the balearic islands and the canary islands to date spain has a total of 15 national parks of which 10 are on the mainland one in the balearic islands and four in the canary islands spain's most visited national park is the tata national park in the canary islands with three million one hundred forty thousand 148 visitors in 2007 and crowned with the third largest volcano in the world from its base the tata with 3718 metres above the sea level the tata also has the distinction of being the most visited national park in europe and second in the world on top of that by 2016 spain is home to 48 biosphere reserves covering 5.5 million hectares almost 11 of the country making spain the world leader of such protected areas art and culture museums in madrid madrid is considered one of the top european destinations concerning art museums best known as the golden triangle of art located along the paseo del prado and comprising three museums the most famous one is the museo del prado known for such highlights as diego velasquez's los meninas and francisco de goya's la maha vestita and la maha desnuda the other two museums are the tissenbonamisa museum established from a mixed private collection and the reina sofia museum where pablo picasso scarnica hangs returning to spain from new york after more than two decades the museo del prado is a museum and art gallery that features one of the world's finest collections of european art from the 12th century to the early 19th century based on the former spanish royal collection the collection currently comprises around 7 600 paintings 1 000 sculptures 4 800 prints and 8 200 drawings in addition to a large number of works of art and historic documents el prado is one of the most visited museums in the world and it is considered to be among the greatest museums of art it has the best collection of paintings by goya velazquez el greco patenir jose de ribera and other spanish artists as well as major collections of rubens titian hieronymus bosch roger van der weiden raphael tinteretto veronese caravaggio van dijk albrecht durer claude lorraine morillo and zerbarin among others the museo nacional centro d'arte rena sofia as the spain's national museum of 20th century art the museum is mainly dedicated to spanish art highlights of the museum include excellent collections of spain's greatest 20th century masters pablo picasso salvador dali joan miro juan griese and julio gonzalez certainly the most famous masterpiece in the museum is picasso's painting guernica the reyna sofia also hosts a free access library specializing in art with a collection of over 100 000 books over 3500 sound recordings and almost 1 000 videos the tyson bonamisa museum is an art museum that fills the historical gaps in its counterparts collections in the prado's case this includes early italian painting and works from the english dutch and german schools while in the case of the reina sofia the tissenborne misa collection once the second largest private collection in the world after the british royal collection includes impressionists expressionists and european and american paintings from the second half of the 20th century with over 600 paintings the royal academy of fine arts of san fernando currently functions as a museum and gallery that houses a fine art collection of paintings from the 15th to 20th centuries giovanni bellini corregio rubens zerberen morillo goya juan greece pablo serrano the academy is also the headquarters of the madrid academy of art francisco goya was once one of the academy's directors and its alumni include pablo picasso salvador dali antonio lopez garcia juan luna and fernando botero the royal palace of madrid is the official residence of felipe vi of spain but he uses it only for official acts it is a baroque palace full of artworks in one of the largest european royal palaces which is characterized by its luxurious rooms and its rich collections of armors and weapons pharmaceutical silverware watches paintings tapestries and the most comprehensive collection of stradivarius in the world the national archaeological museum of spain collection includes among others prehistoric celtic iberian greek and roman antiquities and medieval objects highlights include a replica of the altamira cave lady of elch lady of basa beech of balazzot and treasure of garrazar the museum of the americas is a national museum that holds artistic archaeological and ethnographic collections from the whole americas ranging from the paleolithic period to the present day the permanent exhibit is divided into five major thematical areas an awareness of the americas the reality of the americas society religion and communication the national museum of natural sciences is the national museum of natural history of spain the research departments of the museum are biodiversity and evolutionary biology evolutionary ecology paleobiology volcanology and geology the naval museum is managed by the ministry of defence the museum's mission is to acquire preserve investigate report and display for study education and contemplation parts sets and collections of historical artistic scientific and technical related to naval activity in order to disseminate the story see of spain to help illustrate highlight and preserve their traditions and promote national maritime awareness the monastery of los toscal's israels resides in the former palace of king charles the first of spain and isabel of portugal their daughter joan of austria founded this convent of nuns of the poor clare order in 1559 throughout the remainder of the 16th century and into the 17th century the convent attracted young widowed or spinster noble women each woman brought with her a dowry the riches quickly piled up and the convent became one of the richest convents in all of europe it has many works of renaissance and baroque art including a recumbent christ by gaspar becerra a staircase whose paintings were painted by unknown author and they are considered of the masterpieces of spanish illusionist painting and brussels tapestries inspired by paintings of rubens the museum of lazaro galdiano houses an encyclopedic collection specializing in decorative arts apart from paintings and sculptures it displays 10th century byzantine enamel arab and byzantine ivory chests hellenistic roman medieval renaissance baroque and romantic jewelry picanello and pompeo leone medals spanish and italian ceramics italian and arab clothes and a collection of weapons including the sword of pope innocent viii the museo nacional de arts decoratives is one of the oldest museums in the city it illustrates the evolution of the called minor arts its 60 rooms exponents 15 000 objects of the approximate 40 000 which it has the museo nacional del romanticismo contains a large collection of artifacts and art focusing on daily life and customs of the 19th century with special attention to the aesthetics about romanticism the museo seralbo houses a private collection of ancient works of art artifacts and other antiquities collected by enrique de aguilera y gomboa xvi iceralbo marquis the national museum of anthropology provides an overview of the different cultures in the world with objects and human remains from around the world highlighting a guanche mummy of the island of tenerife the museo serola is located in the building in which the valencian impressionist painter had his home and workshop the collection includes in addition to numerous works of joaquin sarola a large number of objects that possessed the artist including sculptures by august rodan kaisefora madrid is a post-modern art gallery in the centre of madrid it is sponsored by the catalan balearic bank likaisha and located next to the salon del prado although the kaisha forum is a modern building it also exhibits retrospectives of artists from earlier time periods and has evolved into one of the most visited museums in madrid it was constructed by the swiss architects herzog and emiron from 2001 to 2007 which combined an old unused industrial building and hollowed it out at the base and inside and placed on top further floors which are encased with rusted steel next to it is an art installation of green plants growing on the wall of the neighboring house by french botanist patrick blunk the red of the top floors with the green of the wall next to it form a contrast the green is in reflection of the neighboring royal botanical gardens other art galleries and museums in madrid include royal palace of madrid royal academy of fine arts of san fernando national archaeological museum of spain museum of the americas national museum of natural sciences lyria palace naval museum spanish air force museum monastery of los toscals's reels museum of lazaro galdiano royal palace of el pardo railway museum museum sarola kaisefora madrid museums in barcelona this is a list of museums in barcelona and in its surrounding metropolitan area archaeology museum of barcelona museu dar contemporane de barcelona museu del modernisma catalan mmcat kaiser forum barcelona casa asia center dar santa monica center de cultura contemporania de barcelona cosmicia barcelona espe gowdy findicio anthony tapie's olympic and sports museum joan anthony samaranch venezio joan miro finicio sunil fc barcelona museum grossi arts project palau rayalda pedrov's museu de ceramica museu de less arts decoratives museu textile museu barbier muller dar pre columbi museu del calcat museu de sara de barcelona museum of natural sciences of barcelona museum of natural sciences of barcelona martyr l museum laboratory de natura at the castle of the three dragons botanical garden of barcelona historical botanical garden of barcelona museu del clavigara museu del comic isla la stracio museo eguptchida barcelona museu de la rodica de barcelona museo ethnologic de barcelona museum frederick mayer's museu gowdy museu de historia de catalunya museu de historia de la sita centered interpretatio del park ghoul museu mariti museu militare de barcelona museu de la musica de barcelona national art museum of catalonia museu del familia other major museums in spain bilbao fine arts museum carmen tyson museum in malaga city of arts and sciences in valencia dolly theatre and museum in figuera's guggenheim museum in bilbao ivam museo picasso malaga centro pompadou malaga museu de bell's arts de valencia museum of fine arts of seville impact by coronavirus in the early 2020 the country halted its tourism industry following the spread of coronavirus even as of may 2020 the country hasn't specified any fixed date for reopening to foreign tourists but has mentioned hot spots like balearic and canary islands to be the first to open
2021-11-20 03:21
