cricketman

Firstly, there are many more Spansh tourists than any other nationality

Secondly, the "Costas" have been living off lowest denominator tourism for too long. Tourism is actually at record levels in Andalucia yet unemployment is at 35%, like steviedeluxe mentioned.

That tells me that it doesnt work

Something else to bear in mind is that there was an influx of both foreigners and Spaniards to the Costas over the past 20 years or so - for different reasons of course. Out of the 90 people or so in my tennis league, 87 were Spanish, but only a handful were actually from that area. The rest had come with their families to look for work from places like Cadiz, Jerez and Extremadura

Mass market tourism is a lazy economic model that promotes displacement of people and ends up with large amounts of unemployed concentrated in the same areas when times are bad.

It would be better to bring the services and industry to the places that need it - which (as nobody has ever mentioned on here) was the point of all the AVE lines and new airports. They wanted to make all regions of Spain accessible to business - a commendable but naive idea because of course you need the infrastructure, but also the incentive

Domino

One of the reasons that tourism isnt the answer to all prayers is that the major centres like Malaga and Marbella play host and then send them out on day trips, returning for the usual late Spanish evening meal.

We have dozens of non-local coaches cluttering up the car park for the Alhambra every day. But as one Yank I met last summer summed it up at 11.30 one morning "Gee just done the Alhambra, get an our to myself and then off to Cordoba for the afternoon"

Granada council aren't happy about this because as we know here, the city has more to offer than a couple of hours at the Alhambra. I am sure Cordoba council feel the same way. As will Seville and Cadiz on a similar one day trip.
The local hotels don't get business, the bars and cafes similar, the shops don't see much from it either.

I will say that Granada has the infrastructure, the airport is flourishing after a down period, the AVE will get finished one day, the major road networks are now complete, bypassing many towns that only got pollution and can now start to rebuild themselves.

CM, If I may I would like to ask you for your thoughts on how to improve matters for those areas like Andalucia which historically has been an agri-fish region. We have the roads, the rail, the air, we have the industrial centres and land to build more.

jackytoo

I have said before that there are around 70% Spaniards on the coast. Many are from outside Andalucía. Most came in the boom years, not just builders, lawyers etc. Doesn't alter the fact that almost all depend, either directly or indirectly on tourism and residential tourism for a living.

Tourism is only at record levels if you take the skewed stats of the tourist sector of the junta. Spanish tourism was well down this year on the CDS. Golf courses are having financial difficulties and hotel occupation at around 72% is hardly vibrant. Some hotels have closed down, those 40 staff who have lost their jobs in just one hotel means cerca 45,000€ into the local economy which in turn starts to suffer...geddit!

BAT7311

well the L'REBUBLIC DE CATALUNYA will join france and germany as a modern manufacturing state

leaving the REINO DE ESPAÑA as a great place for tourists and growing fruit and veg early in the year ....

you can drive from DE to CAT in a day....or take the ave

ps BARCA is the best city i have ever been to

cricketman

Yes it isnt rocket science. My point is that mass market tourism down there was a flawed business model for the start

Take the golf courses, they werent built for the golf, they were built so the land around it could be reclassifed for them to build all the housing. That is where they made their money. The golf courses never had a viable business plan. And given the sheer number of them, it is impossible for them all to be profitable

Andalucia needs to concentrate on what it does well and aspire for more i.e. they need to market their high quality products more, such as olive oil, jamon de bellota etc - and continue to promote their historic tourism. There are also burgening centres of science and industry

The young people in Spain are very well qualified, what is lacking are jobs that need qualified people. Talk to the pharamceutical companies for example. They can get qualified people in Andalucia for half the price of a qualified German

BAT7311

eh wrong time m8 boom times gone ... i lived in toquay for years they went on and on about the tourist going to spain ... now the spanish summer tourist well go somewhere else .were lucky here filling up with winter russians
who want it to be 28c all winter like today..

cricketman

I lived in Barcelona for early 2 years, we didnt enjoy it at all. Our problem was living centrally, so we were surrouding by tourists day and night with expensive and poor quality cafes and restaurants. Barcelona has sold its soul as a city to the tourists - many Barcelona natives agree and there are regularl demonstrations against all the tourism

Dont forget than Catalans only make up about one third of the people in Barcelona. The other third are Spanish migrants, and the other third are foreigners

Catalunya as a whole is a great place, but they do think that they are Gods gift. I found the Basques to be a little humbler, and they are richer than the Catalans

steviedeluxe

Only a couple of weeks ago Google bought up a Malaga software company Virustotal, because their model was world beating. http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/07/goo...er-virustotal/
And there are some startups operating out of Andalucia that produce web/twitter tools, like SocialBro, Twissues and Pirendo. But I fear a good proportion of andaluces will have to work abroad if they want work. Saudi Arabia will soak up any unemployed nurses (they are looking for 100,000).

BAT7311

most of the veg i get is from round your area - very nice it is to

in exchange try our bananas - better then the american one

Domino

then I hope you are going to keep those Russians warm, last winter even Malaga went down to below 10c

and tourism isnt dead, its more about the value for money, yes the days of bikini clads with "kiss me quick" hats on are over. Even they want value for their money.
all that has happened is that instead of the quick bonk 19-30 club style they want sophistication, things to do, places to go, things to see.
The figures for the Granada Sciences Park are through the roof - again.
The figures for the Alhambra are increasing again - perhaps thats because the Lions are fully restored, back in place and working.

And even Russians will want a little bit of sophistication, according to a mates Russian wife.

cricketman

Well I live in Asturias now, the veg is great up here too! Barcelona had amazing city markets, I definitely missed those when I was living on the CDS

I've never heard of Catalan bananas, we get them from the Canaries.

steviedeluxe

Well yes, that's the reason being given as to why they're heading to Catalunya (and not the cds).

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012...-spain-tourism

Domino

anything to do with the cheap bus ride tickets ?
and one of the routes goes via a very large football stadium


or perhaps its all due to the draw of a brass fish or an unfinished cathedral, and they even have their own Gherkin.

cricketman

The Costa Brava feels a lot more exclusive than anything down south. Probably because of the way it is made up of little coves.

Foreigners found it a long time ago though, and it is very expensive

Catalunya and Barcelona are above all, the kings of marketing. Like I said, they sold their soul a long time ago. The most interesting places I went to were in-land where you can actually talk to people rather than feeling like a wallet with legs

My biggest surprise since being in Asturias is just how amazing the beaches are here. And usually there is just one chringuito per beach which means the beaches feel natural and part of the landscape

Relampago

But you know all southern Spain, how for to make this appreciation?