Tourism has had a particularly positive year in Spain and has once again contributed to the growth of the economy. But at the same time it has once again generated public opposition in the most crowded destinations. The Exceltur association, made up of 33 of the main companies in the sector, will analyze this and other challenges in a forum with public and business representatives that will be held on January 23 as a forecourt of Fitur. Its executive vice president, José Luis Zoreda, advances some of the points to be debated.
Is tourism reaching its limit in Spain?
We have some challenges and in some cases the perception of saturation, in others of gentrification, which, in our opinion, are clearly due to the uncontrolled growth of illegal tourist housing. They are generating a lot of habitability problems in the sense of increasing rents, selling prices, or worse, banalizing the neighborhoods, where the fruit shop, the hairdresser, the convenience store are disappearing, and in the best cases it appears a souvenir shop. This is how the neighborhood is depersonalized and a feeling of loss of quality of life is generated, attributed to the entire tourism sector, when the cause is a disorderly growth of a tourist accommodation profile, illegal housing. It is a phenomenon that has gotten out of hand due to very poor regulation and above all due to the attitude of intermediary platforms that do nothing to help comply with the legislation.
Do you consider reporting the internet platforms that allow illegal tourist apartments?
We have highlighted to the public authorities the need to combat the permissiveness with which they operate. The problem is how to ensure compliance with the law. And this is where the platforms have all the escape valves, to the extent that European directives do not require them to ensure compliance with the law prior to placing the ad on the web. And the idea still persists that they are pure bulletin boards, where they are not responsible for anything. When you tell them that they have to check that they comply with the legislation of Barcelona, Lloret de Mar or wherever, they reply that the European directives do not require this responsibility.
Does Spain have to rethink the tourist model?
We must rethink our growth strategies so that tourism is not seen as a potential problem by some citizens, but as an opportunity for progress and improvement of social conditions for everyone. This is the basis of the congress we will hold in January. For many years the metrics and value of success in the industry have focused on quantity. The more foreign tourists came, the better. We forgot that the first tourist market for Spain, by a huge margin, is the Spanish. We need to change these metrics and begin to value the added effect of each of these visitors, change the replenishment of our offer to procure greater spending and ultimately greater drag effects on destinations.
Do the drought and the heat due to climate change threaten Spain as a destination? In Catalonia, there has not been a lack of water like the current one and in January there are expected to be restrictions on industry if it does not rain.
There is still no correlation established to be able to anticipate that the Mediterranean area is in decline as a destination, there is no evidence of translation of tourist flows due to the climate, which does not mean that the risk can be this and that it must be responsible and take on more to preserve what we have.
What are they asking the new Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu?
First, that this country will never have a tourist demand problem. Don't just do more advertising and promotion. It is necessary to reposition the tourist offer so that the measure of success is not breaking the attendance record. And more so when society is questioning certain massification. It is necessary to rethink what Spain sells as a country. On the coast, we need a strong commitment to the conversion of these destinations. We have wasted Next Generation resources on a distribution of small operations with little traction in the most problematic destinations. If they continue to be the great factories of Spanish tourism, we are betting big on transformation. If there are any remnants of Next Generation, before starting the crusade of empty Spain, let's try to protect what can be lost if we don't turn it around. Second, take seriously the chaos of the uncontrolled growth of illegal tourist housing. And, finally, we are moving towards a new governance, with a better structured public-private management and with a space of opinion for the residents.
