Spain Set for Fifth Consecutive Annual Increase in Tourism

Spain Set for Fifth Consecutive Annual Increase in Tourism 

Tourism continues to break all records 

Spain is set to smash through the tourism figures of last year, which would mean Spain will register five consecutive years of annual increases in visitor numbers according to the latest data from tourism industry group Exceltur. 

The group is forecasting that tourism in 2017 could increase 4.17% over last year, which translates to around 80 million tourists heading to Spain. 

Over 75 million tourists headed to the Spanish sun last year, and Exceltur’s estimate is higher than the current 3.2% estimated increase. The upgrade comes as a result of a better-than-expected spring and Easter season, as well as a fine beginning to the summer season. 

Exceltur commented on their reassessment of Spanish tourism figures, saying that the change came as a result of strong increases in foreign demand. 

Spain has been a perennial favourite destination for summer package holidays, but the growing reputation the country has as a hub for weekend breaks in the city is having a strong impact on the numbers. Cities across the country recorded record numbers of overnight stays during the first half of the year, with some 2.7 million visitors staying overnight in Madrid alone between January and May; an increase of 19% over 2016. 

Barcelona has always been popular of course, but now other cities such as Valencia, Bilbao, Malaga, Cordoba, and Seville are seeing increases in popularity. The Vice President of Eceltur José Luiz Zoreda believes it is the combination of climate, accessibility, and perception of safety – following the recent terror attacks of London, Paris, and Berlin – that makes Spain so popular and attractive to tourists.

A drop in tourism across other countries has seen an increase in Spanish tourism. Exceltur estimates Spain is “borrowing” around 15 million tourists that would otherwise have visited countries such as Egypt, Turkey, Tunisia, and France. 

In terms of nationality, Brits are still the most dominant tourist group, prompting Zoreda to suggest that the “Brexit effect” is something that just isn’t being felt in Spain. The number of American visitors has increased 19%, while there has been a massive increase of 35% in Asian tourists; most of whom come from China.

Barcelona District Set to Trial Universal Income Scheme Worth €13 million

Barcelona District Set to Trial Universal Income Scheme Worth €13 million

People remain divided on the issue of a universal basic income. Many people feel that the idea is impractical. Switzerland recently held a referendum on introducing universal basic income – which would see every adult in the country receive money from the government each month – but the plan was rejected.

The idea lives on however, as one of the poorer regions of Barcelona is to begin a trial scheme where people on the brink of the bread line are given government grants.

The pilot scheme will roll out in the Besós district of the city. €13 million has been set aside for the scheme by the EU. The scheme will look into creative and innovative solutions to the problem of urban property. Barcelona is just one region trialling the new approach. Also getting involved are Helsinki in Finland and Utrecht in the Netherlands.

The grants are going to be available for two years, with the money going to some of the poorest people in Besós. The participants will be randomly chosen from 1,000 households with the lowest income for the district. These participants will be given between €400 and €525 per month.

There are four separate groups in all. The program officials are analysing the four groups living in the area to understand how they spend the money and how they can improve on the idea of providing funding to impoverished areas.

The people selected to participate in the program are also expected to participate in schemes looking to find long-term employment and will be expected to join social inclusion projects. The aim of the program is ascertaining what kind of difference can be made to people in low-income housing after their basic cost of living is taken care of for them.

Barcelona City Hall is looking to monitor the kind of impact the scheme will have after guaranteeing the right to housing for these people. The scheme is intended to revolutionise the current fight against urban poverty, taking it to new places.

It aims to see how poverty can be reduced by providing universal economic support alongside access to a range of services including housing, education, community participation, and working.

The ultimate aim is to create an efficient welfare state not just in Spain, but across the whole EU. The people behind the scheme deserve a round of applause for coming up with such an innovative method of reaching out to the poor people of Spain and finding new ways to understand them and their situation.

Spanish Tourism Set to Grow 3.2% in 2017

Spanish Tourism Set to Grow 3.2% in 2017

Tourist smash all records and looks to continue the trend

Spanish tourism grew by 4.9% in 2016, and it’s expected to grow another 3.2% in 2017 according to the latest data from Exceltur; a tourism promotion group.

Exceltur is estimating that over 75.4 million tourists headed to Spain last year thanks to a combination of factors, including the appeal of Spain and the professional tourism industry of the culture, created the perfect storm.

It’s expected that things won’t change much this year either, except that the growth won’t be as rapid as it was last year. Exceltur suggests there are a few reasons this is the case, including the potential slide of the pound against the euro, which will deter British travellers from leaving the country.

Even so, the country is still yet to see the impact of Brexit. It’s now unlikely to really change tourism numbers in Spain much. Other factors worked well for Spain last year; the main factor was the rise of terrorism in other Mediterranean countries. With luck this won’t be such a big factor this year, but no one can really predict this.

Extra stability will be provided by the settled Spanish government, which will contribute to the idea that a stable country is one worth visiting.

Tourism was responsible for 11% of Spanish GDP last year, as over 80,000 jobs were created in the tourism sector during 2016. The experts add that this year in Spain could see similar numbers.

Expert Predicts Spanish Real Estate Prices Set for 6% Increase

Expert Predicts Spanish Real Estate Prices Set for 6% Increase

Spain's recover looks to continue its uptrend

One of the key players in the Spanish real estate sector has said that the average property value in Spain will increase between 5 and 6% within the next three years.

Humphrey White is the head of the Spanish division of British real estate agency Knight Frank. White says the strengthened economy of Spain is going to spur on strong and sustainable demand with Spanish buyers , while the country will always be a favourite for international investors looking for a popular place in the sun.

White went on to add that the lack of speculative promotion has really helped the Spanish property market. This has brought about renewed confidence in the sector, along with transparency and sensibility.

The result is that there are areas of Spain where there simply aren’t enough good quality houses to go around. So there is room for banks and real estate developers to take to these areas and increase the supply to meet the new demand.

The agent says that Spain currently has a fantastic opportunity to bring in new companies because it offers them high quality properties in prime locations such as city centres near airports, along with a whole host of qualified professionals.

A recent report from Frank Knight showed that Madrid and Barcelona are in the list of the top 20 destinations for the mega-rich; for both residential properties and investment in commercial real estate.

Data published just last week by the National Statistics Institute showed that the amount of foreign buyers investing in Spanish homes increased just under 20% in 2016; with foreign investors accounting for one-fifth of all the homes sold in Spain.

While Brits have always been the biggest demographic of foreign investors in Spain the data also shows that they aren’t growing as quickly in the third quarter. This drop was made up by an increase in interest from other nations including France, Italy and Sweden. The amount of Russian investors however continues to drop.

Spain Set to Create Equal Maternity and Paternity Leave

Spain Set to Create Equal Maternity and Paternity Leave

Spanish parliament decided recently that they would agree with a proposal that was put forward by the Podemos Party to standardise both maternal and paternal leave.

Paternity leave for fathers is a welcome addition.

Current laws entitle Spanish fathers to have 13 days off work consecutively, which begins two days before a child is born, fostered or adopted. While fathers of three or more children are entitled to 20 days off it is still much shorter than the 16 weeks of maternity leave that Spanish mothers receive.

The current law does still allow for mothers to transfer up to 10 weeks of their 16 week maternity leave to fathers but this rule is on the way out after it was only used by 2% of couples.

This change in the rules means that Spain is catching up with the rest of Europe and it also allows Spanish couples to have an equal role when it comes to early parental duties. The government will compensate companies for the time that employees spend away from work and this was one of the biggest sticking points for the conservative parties in Spain.

The Popular Party (PP), headed up by the current interim Prime Minsiter of Spain Mariano Rajoy, has been against equal parental leave for some time. They feel that it will cost the government too much. Podemo countered this argument by saying that both the Spanish constitution and EU law forbid discriminating based on gender.

It could be a while until a new government budget is set to accommodate the change given the current political situation in Spain. Given that it could take until a new Prime Minister is elected the rule could soon be overturned if Rajoy and his PP win a majority in the upcoming third election.

What is more likely to happen is that Spain will be ruled by a grand coalition of mostly left-leaning parties that will ensure the ruling stays and that Spain will finally make good on a promise made in 2009, before the country was hit by a double-dip recession and people lost interest in a ruling that would increase government spending.

The ruling comes at quite the coincidental time for Spain as October 21^st marks the day when women begin “working for free” in a crude measurement of the gender pay gap in the country.

The data behind this imbalance comes from information taken from the entire adult population of Spain and the end result is that women are paid almost 20% less than men. Given that the EU and Spanish constitution state that gender discrimination isn’t allowed it is a bit misleading to say that women are deliberately paid less than men.

Another significance of this October 21^st date is that social and cultural norms leave women feeling the need to leave work early or work less so that they can take care of their families. This is another reason that women fail to go after high-paying careers and also stops them from pursuing a tertiary education, which also cuts down on their earning potential.

Now that new fathers are entitled to as much paid leave as mothers it is hoped that this imbalance will effectively rectify itself as time passes.

Controversial 15-year Voting Restrictions for Expats Set to be Lifted by 2020

Controversial 15-year Voting Restrictions for Expats Set to be Lifted by 2020

Little to late for Brexit voters

The law is changing and now expats will be able to register to vote even if they’ve been abroad for over 15 years. The change is expected to come into effect by the election in 2020.

While the change came a little too late to potentially prevent the Brexit, the British government have confirmed that they plan to scrap the 15-year rule that prevents long-term expats from voting in British general elections and referendums.

The decision to remove the barriers to voting in time for the 2020 election was made last Friday. The change means that any British national will have the right to have their voice heard in the next general election; regardless of how long they have been living in Spain or abroad.

The current rules were quite controversial as they denied British citizens the right to vote if they had been living outside of the UK for over 15 years. The rule was called undemocratic by critics. There were also people who defended the rule; saying that people who had abandoned their country for so long had no right to say how the country should be run.

It looks like the government has decided to accept that the rules were indeed unfair. They issued a policy statement called “Democracy that Works for Everyone” in which they stated that they do indeed plan on scrapping the rule.

Constitution Minister Chris Skidmore said that overseas electors still contribute to British society and that they should still have the right to vote. He added that the government intends to give these people the right to register to vote quickly enough to get them voting in the 2020 election.

MP Skidmore continued to say that there is more to being British than just living in the UK; British people are British citizens no matter where they live. He added that these Britons abroad still kept their strong cultural and social ties with Britain and their families at home while they continue to build businesses abroad. The decisions that are being made on British shores affect British citizens the world over, many of whom plan to eventually return to the UK in the future the MP said in a column he wrote for the Telegraph newspaper.

The 15-year rule has become particularly pertinent in recent years. Then-PM David Cameron promised to scrap the rule in the 2015 general election. It is a move that proved to be a vote winner but, after the election was over, he clarified that the rule would not be scrapped before the planned EU referendum. It is unlikely the referendum would have passed if the rule had been scrapped by then, so perhaps this was a move Mr Cameron regrets now. The referendum was pretty close and many living abroad in Spain  would have likely voted to remain, which would potentially have given the Remain camp the votes they needed to win.

While many expats will likely feel that the rule change is a little too late, many will welcome the scrapping of such an unpopular policy. It could even potentially lead to more people leaving the UK as they know that their vote will still count now.

Spain Set for at Least Two More Years of Affordable Mortgages

Spain Set for at Least Two More Years of Affordable Mortgages

Right now fixed rate mortgages are very affordable in Spain and it’s expected that things will stay this way for the next two years at least.

Getting hold of a mortgage has never been easier

Experts are predicting that, despite the uncertainty in the Eurozone right now the low interest rates that have helped to beef up the Spanish mortgage sector will be continuing for at least two more years.

These low mortgage rates have been a major factor in the recovery and resurgence of investing in the Spanish property market in the past 24 months. Spain is set to continue using the fixed rate mortgage levels that are offered by the Euribor; the Euro Interbank Offered Rate.

The Euribor is used as a safety valve for property sectors across Europe as it sets an average rate of interest payments amongst the Eurozone based on how an economy is currently performing. The European Central Bank has been scared by some of the recent financial blips in Europe and it’s expected that the Euribor rate will be kept below zero for the next two years at least until 2019.

Many Spanish mortgages are lent on the Euribor rate, which dipped down to -0.057% in September. This was also the eighth month in a row that the rate was negative. Normally these low interest rates would only be used on a shorter term basis and are used in an attempt to stimulate the national market.

Now the Spanish property market is expected to see the benefits of a low interest rate much like the German export-based economy received a healthy boost across two years from the low euro. The Spanish property market has become one of the most popular property markets across all of Europe. There are plenty of foreign buyers, particularly British buyers, who are now being offered great terms for purchasing a home in Spain.

It’s expected that the Euribor could go down even further and could reach even -1% in 2018, which would mean that mortgage repayments are even lower and the Spanish property market is even more interesting to investors.

There is some cause for concern from Spanish banks however. While it’s always good for banks to welcome more mortgage customers it could damage their long-term profitability, which could mean they tighten their belts when it comes to lending in a few years.

The Spanish banking sector and the real estate sector have been closely intertwined over recent years though so sensible banks are expected to maintain a watchful eye on the market and help it grow steadily rather than exploding and burning out. The good news for those banks is that “steady growth” is how the Spanish property market has been growing since 2014.

Re-Election Set For June 26th, Spanish King Confirms

Re-Election Set For June 26th, Spanish King Confirms

Spain had been doing well in spite of having no Government

The Spanish king Felipe-Bella-Naija has confirmed that the next general election in Spain will take place on June 26^th. King Felipe VI confirmed that Spain will go back to the polls once more in a second general election as the first failed to secure a ruling party.

The last vote was held on December 20^th of last year and no party managed to reach a majority. Six months of negotiations between the parties has so far failed to bring together a coalition so a re-election must be held.

The Spanish King used his authority as the head of state to call another election. The date, 26^th of June, will be just a few short days after the British will vote on the EU Referendum and a few days before EU leaders will gather at Brussels for their June 28^th summit.

A recent opinion poll has suggested that former Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, the head of the People’s Party (PP) has become slightly more popular since last December. He now has 29% support, slightly up from the 28% he was at last year.

The biggest rival of the People’s Party is the Socialist party. They have seen a small drop in popularity as they went from 22% to 20.3%. The anti-austerity left-wing wing party Podemos has also suffered from a dip in popularity. They went from 20.7% to 18.1%.

The only party to see a significant rise in popularity is the central party Ciudadanos. They have gone up from 13.9% to 17%.

These changes in telecommunications and popularity suggest that Spaniards agrowth of the economy and are less interest in the idea of the total change that is being promised by Podemos and the Socialist party.

The economic growth of Spain and the low cost of living has been one of the best in the Eurozone. This has given Rajoy the chance to brag about the hard work that his party did during their last term. The country suffered from a double-dip recession during the time.

Rajoy told La Razón newspaper that his party was the most useful for Spain. He also said that voting for him was voting for the lesser evil and would be preferable over choosing a government that would attempt to undo all the good the PP had done, such as hard labour reforms.

Spain Set to Re-join GMT if Rajoy is Re-Elected

Spain Set to Re-join GMT if Rajoy is Re-Elected

Spain is giving a lot of thought to the idea of moving their clocks back one hour to return to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) so that the time zone of the country is in line with the geographical location of Spain.

Spanish time zone could come in line with UK

Mariano Rajoy, the current acting prime minister of Spain, has taken another look at the issue and has said that he will go ahead with the change should he be re-elected. He says that the change should benefit Spain and improve the quality of life for the Spanish people.

Spain changed from GMT to Central European Time (CET) back in the 1940s. It was change brought in by General Franco. Franco wished to bring the country in line with Nazi Germany; who Spain was allied with at the time. Even though the Spanish capital of Madrid is further to the west than London Spain has always been an hour ahead of the UK since then. Spain currently has the same time zone as Serbia, a country 1,550 miles to East. As a result of the current time zone Spaniards are currently able to be active and work for longer.

The hot climate of Spain means that things are often done a little later in the day than in other countries. As a result Spaniards find it easier to stay active and work into the later hours when things cool down. Because of this Spain currently has a vibrant nocturnal culture with the streets coming alive in the late hours. Some people in Spain don’t eat in restaurants or have their dinner until around 10 or 11PM.

Rajoy has argued the benefits of bringing Spain back into GMT along with the Canary Islands however. He believes that if Spain was to adopt GMT then the working day would be over sooner and the country would be able to improve their GDP by adopting closer business ties with Europe by having similar working hours. He also believes that such a change could increase productivity so it matches the levels of more northern European countries.

Such a change could also mean the end of the Spanish two hour lunch break eating local cuisine  which could lead to a bit of resistance within Spain, even though the time zone change is a remnant of a time when Spain was under the iron fist of a dictator like Franco.

It’s unlikely that a decision will be made one way or the other before June however. This is when Spain goes back to the polls to have another general election after their last one in December ended with a hung parliament.