¿Qué pasará en España si los TOURISTS GO HOME? | Int… — Transcript

Explore the impact of tourism in Spain and what would happen if tourists suddenly stopped coming, highlighting economic and social consequences.

Key Takeaways

Tourism is a major economic driver in Spain but creates social challenges like rising rents and loss of local culture.
The COVID-19 pandemic revealed Spain's overdependence on tourism and its economic vulnerability.
There is a need for a long-term, diversified economic strategy beyond tourism to ensure sustainability.
Political efforts have largely failed to reduce tourism dependence or promote innovation and economic resilience.
Balancing tourism growth with residents’ quality of life is crucial to avoid negative social impacts like tourismophobia.

Summary

Spain is the second most visited country globally, with over 85 million tourists in 2023.
Tourism accounts for more than 12% of Spain's GDP, with even higher percentages in regions like the Balearic and Canary Islands.
The tourism boom began in the 1960s and 1970s, transforming many coastal areas and cities such as Benidorm.
Tourism has led to rising rents and displacement of long-time residents in major cities, contributing to a phenomenon called tourismophobia.
The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 caused a massive drop in tourism, resulting in severe economic losses and job cuts.
Spain is heavily dependent on tourism, with limited diversification into other economic sectors like technology and renewable energy.
Political focus has been on short-term tourism growth rather than sustainable, long-term economic strategies.
Experts suggest Spain should invest more in innovation, education, and sustainability to reduce reliance on tourism.
Tourism generates significant economic benefits but also causes social and cultural challenges in urban areas.
The video encourages reflection on the future of Spain’s economy and the balance between tourism and local quality of life.

Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown

Speaker A

Imagine you're walking down a street in downtown Barcelona. On your left, a modernist building. On your right, an ice cream parlor. Everything seems peaceful until you look at a wall and read a spray-painted message: "Tourist, go home." A direct message, of course... even aggressive. The last time I was in Barcelona, I saw this

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message, and also another one that said: "Tourists, we pee in your beers." To pee is to pee. It's not exactly welcoming. It doesn't make you feel very welcome, obviously. What drives a person to write something like that? What's happening with tourism in Spain?

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We're going to talk about a topic that generates a lot of emotions: tourism in Spain.

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More specifically, let's ask ourselves: what would happen if Spain stopped being a tourist destination?

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Before we begin, I remind you that you can read the free transcript of this episode, see the English translation, and use the vocabulary flashcards on the website spanishlanguagecoach.com. These are free resources to help you improve your Spanish. Also,

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registration for all my online courses opens next Monday, July 21st. You'll find all the information on the website, and you can add your email address to the waiting list so you don't miss anything.

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Student, let's start with a fact. In 2023, more than 85 million people visited Spain. Yes, 85 million. It's as if almost all of Germany came here on vacation. That made Spain the second most visited country in the world. Only France was ahead.

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And it's interesting because, although France also receives millions of tourists every year, the anti-tourism movement there seems to be more discreet. Perhaps the French are more accustomed to it, or the impact is simply not as strong in some areas.

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Although there are also protests and tensions in certain regions, such as the south or Paris, they are not as visible as the cases we find in some Spanish cities.

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And of course, those millions of people didn't just come to take photos of the Sagrada Familia or swim on the beaches of Ibiza. They also ate in restaurants, slept in hotels or tourist apartments, bought souvenirs, and took taxis. All of this generates money. A lot of

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money. In fact, tourism accounts for more than 12% of Spain's Gross Domestic Product, or GDP. And in some areas, like the Balearic and Canary Islands, that percentage is even higher. And has it always been this way? Well, no. If we look back

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, we see that Spain hasn't always been the tourist paradise it is today. During Franco's dictatorship, especially in the 1940s and 1950s, Spain was a fairly closed, hermetic country. But in the 1960s and 1970s, things changed. Tourists from northern Europe began to arrive looking for sun, beaches, and low prices. That was the beginning of the

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tourism boom. Hotels, roads, airports, and many areas, especially along the coast, underwent a complete transformation. A very clear example of how tourism in Spain has changed is the case of Benidorm. In the 1950s, it was a small fishing village

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with fewer than 3,000 inhabitants. Today it has more than 70,000, and in the summer there can be more than 400,000 people between tourists and visitors. A spectacular change that shows the enormous impact of tourism in some areas. Because, although tourism brings wealth,

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it also has its downside. In many Spanish cities, historic centers are being transformed. Many apartments are rented only to tourists, which drives up rent prices for the people who live here. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the average rent in tourist cities has risen considerably, in some cases by more than 30%.

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And as you can imagine, salaries haven't risen 30% over the same period, of course. This means that long-time residents, the old ones, have to move. In cities like Barcelona, Seville, Malaga, or Valencia, there are more and more neighborhoods where it's difficult to find

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a traditional bakery, a fruit shop, or a pharmacy. Instead, there are souvenir shops and ice cream parlors open until midnight. As a resident of a city undergoing this transformation, I am saddened by the fact that this is happening. Not just for the residents.

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of the city, but also for the tourists themselves. I think the experience of visiting Valencia, my city, was much more interesting ten years ago than it is now. Although it's true that I don't think this change is solely attributable to the increase in tourism, but to globalization in

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general, right? It makes everything a bit more standardized. But anyway, I don't want to stray from the topic...

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We were saying that many places in Spain are losing their essence, but in addition to that, in some places there is overcrowding and a general feeling that the city no longer belongs to its inhabitants. From this arises a phenomenon called tourismophobia. A compound word:

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tourism + phobia. That is, fear or rejection of tourism. And although it may sound exaggerated, it reflects a reality. There are people who feel that their neighborhoods, their streets, their daily lives, have changed too much, and not for the better. But what would happen if tourism disappeared?

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What would happen if tomorrow no one came to Spain on vacation? Well, in 2020 we had a little experiment, right? A forced experiment, yes. I'm referring to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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That year, borders closed, planes stopped flying, and the streets of tourist cities were empty. Spain lost almost 80% of its international tourists. And what happened? Well, thousands of businesses directly or indirectly related to tourism closed, many people lost their jobs, and the economy suffered a sharp decline. In the second

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quarter of 2020 alone, Spain's GDP fell 21.5% compared to the previous year, according to data from the National Statistics Institute. And the tourism sector was one of the hardest hit: it lost more than €100 billion in revenue, and more than 400,000

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direct jobs were lost. It was a devastating blow that made us face an uncomfortable reality, even though we already knew it: Spain is overly dependent on tourism. And here comes the big question: Is there an alternative?

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Could we change our model? Some experts say yes. That perhaps it would be a good idea to invest more in sectors such as technology, renewable energy, education, and science.

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That Spain doesn't have to be just "sun and beach" tourism. That it can also be innovation, knowledge, and sustainability. However, it's interesting to see that successive Spanish governments since the arrival of democracy in the 1970s, with different ideologies (center,

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left, right, etc.), have failed—have not managed—to reduce this enormous dependence on tourism. Some experts say that a long-term vision has been lacking. That is, a strategy based on an economic model that works not only in the present, but also in

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the future. But the Spanish political class seems to be obsessed with the immediate, the present, and of course, this lack of vision translates into short-term policies focused on attracting more tourists each year, without questioning whether this growth is sustainable.

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What has been lacking, what we have needed, is a clear strategy that incentivizes innovation and economic diversification beyond tourism. Because, look, tourism is great, but it can't be exported and therefore has many limitations. There has also been little investment in training,

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research, and development, which could create quality jobs in other sectors. And all this has been accompanied by a lack of real political commitment to a slightly more balanced and resilient economic model. But that's the way it is...

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Spain is heavily dependent on tourism. And if the "tourist go home" trend were to become a reality, it would be potentially quite negative. Would it be a poorer country with fewer opportunities? There are studies that have analyzed this dependence. For example, the Institute

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of Tourism Sciences showed in 2005 that for every euro spent by a tourist, the Spanish economy gains almost 1.60 euros in total. In other words, tourism generates a po

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Other studies say that if tourism revenue increases by 5%, the country's GDP can grow by around 1.5%. But there's also a problem: when a country depends so much on a single sector, like tourism, it becomes more fragile in the face of any crisis, as happened during the pandemic.

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Furthermore, in 2022, only 7.1% of GDP and 16% of exports came from services. that are not related to tourism. That's not much for a modern economy.

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And as I say, although these studies and data exist, they have not yet been translated into clear political actions to change the economic model, so it seems that Spain will be a "sun and beach" industry for the long term. And there are other drawbacks that are

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less talked about. For example, the seasonality of tourism jobs: many jobs only exist during the summer or peak season, which causes job instability. Furthermore, these jobs are often poorly paid and with little protection. For this reason, many experts propose

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looking towards sectors such as technology, the energy transition, or the care economy, which can offer more stable, better-paid, and sustainable jobs over time.

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And a very clear example that tourism is not always as positive as it seems can be found in the Canary Islands. Despite receiving more than 16 million tourists in 2023, it is one of the regions with the highest relative poverty and the greatest precariousness in the labor market in

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Spain. This may seem like a paradox, right? On the one hand, we have a region full of visitors and money flowing through the air, but with many residents at risk of social exclusion and struggling to access stable, well-paid employment. Much of its economy depends

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on tourism, which accounts for more than 35% of the regional GDP. However, this dependence has not generated a substantial improvement in the quality of life for many Canarians. Furthermore, tourist pressure leads to housing shortages, rising prices, and overloaded public services

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such as transportation. In April 2024, thousands of people took to the streets on several islands with a clear message: "The Canary Islands have a limit." These protests are a sign of discontent and dissatisfaction with an economic model that benefits one segment of society, but not

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everyone equally. Now, this doesn't mean that Canarians are against tourists. But what is bothersome is that the economic benefits often don't reach the local population.

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So, who benefits? According to some groups, the main beneficiaries are large hotel chains, investment funds, and foreign owners who rent out tourist accommodation. Furthermore, some businesses operate with temporary staff in precarious conditions, which further reduces the real positive impact of tourism on the community.

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They remind us that having many tourists does not automatically mean prosperity. And that perhaps the time has come to rethink this model in other parts of Spain as well.

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And well, in general, there's no doubt that it's important for us to start reflecting on this issue. On what kind of country we want to be in the future. Because tourism can continue to be an important part of our economy, but perhaps it shouldn't be the only one.

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Furthermore, there's another factor that can make us reflect: pay attention to this, student. Temperatures in Spain are steadily rising. According to the State Meteorological Agency, the average temperature has increased by more than 1.7°C since the 1960s.

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In some cities, such as Seville and Córdoba, temperatures now routinely exceed 40°C in summer.

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And there are experts who warn that in about 30 years, certain areas of Spain could become practically uninhabitable during the hottest months. If this happens, it will not only be uncomfortable for those of us who live here, but it could also affect tourism,

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because no one wants to spend their vacation in a place where they can't even go outside because of the heat. That's why it's urgent to start thinking not only about the economic model we want, but also about the type of environment we want to inhabit. And finally, I encourage you to leave a comment

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with your opinion. That way you can practice your written expression in Spanish. You can also subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss an episode and rate it on your favorite platform. This helps me a lot to reach more students like you.

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I'll see you in the next episode! Big hugs.

Topics:Spain tourismtourism impacttourismophobiaeconomic dependenceCOVID-19 tourism impactSpanish economytourism sustainabilityurban displacementeconomic diversificationtourism challenges

Frequently Asked Questions

How important is tourism to Spain's economy?

Tourism accounts for more than 12% of Spain's GDP and is a major source of income, especially in regions like the Balearic and Canary Islands.

What happened to Spain's tourism sector during the COVID-19 pandemic?

In 2020, Spain lost almost 80% of its international tourists, causing severe economic losses, business closures, and over 400,000 direct job losses in tourism.

What are some negative effects of tourism in Spanish cities?

Tourism has driven up rent prices, displaced long-time residents, transformed neighborhoods into tourist-focused areas, and caused social tensions known as tourismophobia.

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