IT WOULD be a “big blow” to the Spanish economy if UK holidaymakers listen to militant groups who accuse them of “destroying” the country, a tourism expert declared.
Popular holiday resorts have been targeted with messages telling visitors they are “not welcome” and they have repeatedly been told to “go home”.
Alexander Goransson, lead analyst, and tourism specialist at Euromonitor, said UK holidaymakers are the largest contributor to the Spanish tourist sector.
He told Sun Online: “Tourism expenditure to Spain stood at £50billion in 2016.
“Some £12.7billion of that came from the UK – that’s 26 per cent.
“So we are actually the biggest contributor to the Spanish tourist economy.”
Barcelona council commissioned a survey that found locals consider tourism to be the city’s second most pressing problem, after unemployment.
Anti–tourism activists have been targeting Barcelona, Majorca, Valencia and San Sebastián with protests – some of them involving violence.
The campaign groups claim tourism is making the cities “too expensive to live in” as people rent out their flats to tourists and “residents are forced out”.
They add that a small group of business men are “making a lot of money” out of tourism that is not “benefiting the majority”.
Mr Goransson continued: “If the UK numbers declined by 20 per cent, the overall tourist numbers would drop by five per cent.
“And if British people ceased to go altogether, there would be a 20-25 per cent drop in total tourist activity – which for any business would be a big blow.”
Spain is the world’s third most visited country. Last year, it posted a new record of 75million tourists, nearly 17million of them British.
According to the world travel and tourism council, the total contribution of travel and tourism to Spain’s economy in 2016 was 14.2 per cent of GDP.
Despite the threats towards tourists in Spain those figures are expected to rise by nearly four per cent by the end of 2017.
The analyst added: “Interestingly, the UK in the first half of this year is the fastest growing inbound market – that’s people arriving in Spain between January and June 2017.
“This tourismphobia has been worrying us since last summer.
“In 2016 we noted graffiti and there was an aggression with a glass against tourists who were on an excursion, so we alerted that the situation could radicalise, which is what we have seen.
“Now there are protests in the entrances of hotels, restaurants and in ports.
“They call themselves left-wing but they are more fascist than the far right. We are very worried that they might cause a serious incident with our visitors at any day.”
A militant campaign group, named Arran Països Catalans (Arran), accused the travel industry of “destroying” Barcelona, among other areas, and claimed further action would be taken.
Source:www.express.co.uk