Data Shows Spain Still World Leader in Top Quality Beaches

Data Shows Spain Still World Leader in Top Quality Beaches

Beaches is Spain and the Costa Del Sol continue to be

clean and will awards

Spain can keep its reputation as being the country with the best, cleanest, and safest beaches in the world thanks to its impressive 579 blue flag beaches.

The Association for Environmental Education and the Consumer (ADEAC), the body in charge of designating blue-flag beaches, has kept Spain as the top of the charts for another year in a row; a streak that has existed since way back in 1987.

Being designated a blue-flag beach means meeting some stringent criteria. The ADEAC assess the hygiene, safety, sanitary conditions of a beach, along with the accessibility and provisions of lifeguards. While the number of blue-flag beaches in Spain has dropped by 7 since 2016, it still proved itself to be the best in the world for safe bathing.

In terms of individual regions, Valencia is home to the most blue-flag beaches – with 129 – while Galicia to the northwest has 113, Catalonia has 95, and Andalucía – where the Costa del Sol can be found – has 90 blue-flag beaches.

The Murcia region, which sits not far from the Costa del Sol, lost 16 blue flag beaches compared to last year; the largest drop nationally.

Greece boasts the second-highest number of blue flag beaches after Spain, followed by France, Turkey, Italy, and Portugal.

Spain became the top of the charts thanks to its marinas, which boast an impressive 100 blue flags collectively. With another five blue flags for cruise ship ports, Spain is home to 684 blue flags in all – the largest number for a single country.

April Brings Sharpest Ever Drop in Spanish Unemployment

April Brings Sharpest Ever Drop in Spanish Unemployment

Unemployment continues to fall as the summer months approach

The Spanish Labour Ministry announced on Thursday at the amount of unemployed people in Spain dropped 3.9% in April, the sharpest dropin unemployment ever recorded in the country.

The official data released by the government shows around 129,281 people were employed in Spain in April, chipping away at the amount of unemployed people and     leaving just 3.57 million Spanish people out of work.

3.57 million people might be a little high for a country the size of Spain, there has been an encouraging trend towards job creation over the past 15 months; which is a great sign that the Spanish economy is thriving.

The king of job creation in April was the tourism sector, in particular restaurants and hotels. There was no stopping jobs being created in the run-up to the Easter holidays. Around 130,000 jobs were created in all, around 96,672 of them in services.

Other industries performing well in April were construction, real estate, and agriculture as Spain sets up for the Summer season by giving these economic sectors a boost.

A survey released this week by the Institute for National Statistics (INE) showed the rate of expansion for the Spanish service sector. The sector was adding jobs at the fastest rate in over two years, becoming the driving force behind the record increase in employment figures.

The Labour Ministry confirmed the number of people registered as paying social security rose 1.18% in April, equalling a growth of around 212,216 extra people.

Low Cost Spanish Wine Feeling the Wrath of French Producers

Low Cost Spanish Wine Feeling the Wrath of French Producers

Its a fact that Spanish wine is far superior to French wine

and cheaper in price, but unfortunately the French

don't like the competition.

Spanish wine is enjoyed all around the world, even in France – a fact that continues to dismay French wine producers.

French winemakers are going on the warpath in French supermarkets protesting against the practice of importing and selling Spanish wine for much less than French wine is sold for.

The vignerons of the French town Gard stormed into the wine sections at the Genant Casino and Metro supermarkets in the Oicctanie and Nimes regions of France, grabbing case after case of Spanish wine and smashing all the bottles outside in the car park.

What makes the protestosr so angry is that the supermarkets buy wine in Spain in bulk – a deal that was made between Spanish wineries and French supermarkets years ago.

Even though the local French wine – which is made in the well-known Languedoc-Bousillon region – does come highly regarded, it also comes with a higher price tag than Spanish wine. Spanish wine is available to consumers and wholesalers alike at a fraction of the price, while still being good quality wine.

French winemaker Mathieu Calegari told France 2 TV his entire crop of French wine from 2016 is unsold. He said that he has around 1,000 hectolitres of beautiful wine that can’t be sold, adding there was no explanation for it.

The main explanation for the unsold wine appears to be a matter of economics. The wine imported from the Valencia region of Spain costs just 30 euro cents per litre; half as much as French wine.

This is no laughing matter for the thousands of French winemakers that are losing their money and risk losing their livelihoods. There are some politic movements being considered that could help to create an even playing field for Spanish and French wines.

However, it’s unlikely that French supermarkets will ignore the fact that – thanks to cheap labour costs in Spain – Spanish wine remains cost-effective and high quality; which is just right for Spanish wine producers.

Study Finds Average Expat Takes Six Months to Settle In

Study Finds Average Expat Takes Six Months to Settle In

Once settled in to the Spanish life style its hard to leave.

We’d like to start by offering a hearty congratulations to all the people out there that have recently made the choice to leave their home country behind and become an expat. It’s certainly a daunting move, but it could end up being the best decision you’ve ever made.

You shouldn’t worry if you’re having trouble fitting in and settling as soon as you arrive. Everyone goes through the expat life differently, but the process generally follows the same pattern; there’s the initial honeymoon period, then some time spent in doubt and frustration, and then a long period of amusement and bemusement as you take in the differences in culture, before you finally settle in for the long haul; putting down some permanent roots and making new friends.

A recent survey from HSBC known as the HSBC Expat Explorer Survey has assessed that this process takes six months on average.

HSBC polled thousands of expats and found that two-thirds of them took six months to feel like they had truly settled into their new country.

Just under half of expat parents with their children felt it took this long for their children to settle in, seemingly proving the adage that younger people adapt to new surroundings faster.

In the long term, 60% of parents said they feel their children had a higher quality of life abroad. Only 13% of parents feel that expat life was inferior to home life for their children.

Spain Ranked Third-Most Popular Destination by World Tourism Organisation

Spain Ranked Third-Most Popular Destination by World Tourism Organisation

Southern Spain continues to be very attractive to all visitors

coming to Spain

The latest data from the UNWTO – Word Tourism Organisation – ranks Spain as the third in global tourism rankings for 2016.

The data showed that 68.2 million visitors flocked to Spain last year, putting it behind the USA (with 77.5 million visitors), and the first-place France, which saw a total of 84.5 million visitors from overseas.

The statistics from the UNWTO are a little different from other metrics as they record every visitor from a foreign country, rather than just legitimate tourists booking an overnight stay at the very least. This is the likely reason that France came in first, as many people pass through the country on their journeys to surrounding countries.

This doesn’t mean that France doesn’t have a strong tourism market though, it just means that France – which finds itself in the middle of the UK, Italy, Belgium, and Germany – is always going to deal with a lot of ‘visitors’.

Spain – on the other hand – has land borders with just Portugal, France, and Andorra – and it isn’t as large or as populated as France is. The UNWTO also published a separate set of data about the number of tourists per resident. This metric saw Spain beat France; drawing 1.4 tourists for every resident, beating the 1.25 France scored.

An interesting note is that Andorra – that small principality between Spain and France – that topped the charts for tourists-per-resident; drawing in a massive 33.5 tourists per resident.

As far as overall numbers go, Spain is just in front of China (56.9 million overseas visitors during 2016), Italy (50.7 million) and Turkey (39.4 million). The UK came in eighth for the total number of visitors, pulling in 33.4 million tourists during the year; just behind the 35 million of seventh-place Germany.

The top ten was completed with Mexico in ninth with 32.1 million tourists and Russia in tenth with 31.3 million.

The Spanish tourism sector is expected to continue to grow this year; growing 3.2% over 2016 figures.  Southern Spain and the costa del sol breaking all records.

Three Reasons to Jet to the Costa Del Sol in June

With the fantastic climate and Mediterranean lifestyle its

no wonder the Costa del sol continues to

break all records 

Three Reasons to Jet to the Costa Del Sol in June

There’s no such thing as a bad time to go to Spain, but – honestly – February and August are the two months that are the table up; albeit for different reasons.

The weather in February is too unpredictable in the Costa del Sol compared to the slightly colder but more stable February, or the drier and warmer March.

August sounds like a great time to visit, as there is plenty of sunshine, but there’s also a lot of heat and far too many people crowding the beaches, bars, and restaurants. The high seasons also brings higher prices for hotels and flights.

The pleasures of Spain should be enjoyed during the “shoulder” months of high season; which is May and October for the Costa del Sol; as June to September is considered to be the high season.

Most people will preach the perks of September, but given that the month comes after the peak of the summer, people who are a little more pessimistic will be drawn to May. The days are starting to get longer and warmer, the amenities are sparser, but there’s still plenty of custom to be found in resorts.

2017 brings with it three distinct reasons to grab your luggage and book the next flight to Malaga airport.

Reason #1; Avoding Election Fever

Whether you’re bored of all the discussion about what Brexit does and doesn’t mean, the upcoming general election, or an Irish person just tired of being so close to the political circus of the UK, a French person tired of all the election talk and what it all means, or a German who’s already sick of hearing about the September election, you’ll enjoy your time in Spain this May.

The country hasn’t been as politically calm or stable as it now in a long time, with Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy getting reinstated and sorting out the economy and labour market. There’s no lampposts covered in posters telling you to vote, no endless political debates or other political discussions on TV, and almost no disagreement goes down at the bodega. Spain will spend May basking in serenity and the confidence that the future will be brighter.

Reason #2 To Grab Some Property

Spanish property was the biggest thing there was between 2002 and 2007. The prices were low, the quality was good, and the supply – and the credit to fund it – seemed limitless. These days off of buying a property off plan and flipping it before it had even been built are now long behind us.

The Spanish property of today still has plenty of the things that made it attractive before the boom hit; affordable, good quality properties in some of the most beautiful and accessible regions of the country. This time around though the prices are rising at an incremental pace, mortages are more sensible, and buyers are more mature. It’s the perfect recipe for sustained success.

Reason #3; The Deals

It’s much more expensive to fly to Spain between June and August compared to the rest of the year. The main reason is that these months are when European schoolchildren have their holidays. It leads to inflated costs of hotels, car hire, and other costs. The prices of package holidays tend to be their highest during the summer too.

If you can find the time to do it, then you can save a lot of money by visiting Spain in May. You won’t even ned to sacrifice much; you’ll pick up your tan, swim through the sea, and relax on the beach. You’ll also get all the food, fun, and views that come with the Costa del Sol; at a much lower price than just one month later.

May could very well be the best month to visit the Costa delSol, so enjoy it while you can!

Turkey’s Hotel Association Declares Spain Biggest Winner as Germans Head to the Costas

Turkey’s Hotel Association Declares Spain Biggest Winner as Germans Head to the Costas

With uncertainty around the world, tourists

continue to head to safe havens  of the Costa Del Sol 

The terrorism and political strife affecting Turkey is causing Germany holidaymakers to avoid the country according to TÜROB; the Hotel Association of Turkey. The benefactor of all of this has been Spain.

TÜROB say that bookings for holidays in Turkey from German tourists has dropped by 58% across the past 12 months, with holiday makers heading for Spain to enjoy the relative safety and sun.

Even though Turkish holiday resorts haven’t been hit by the same terrorist attacks as Tunisia in 2015, there is still plenty of concern about general security, with several attacks across the past 12 months in Istanbul, a failed coup during last summer, and an government on the verge of becoming a dictatorship.

Holidaymakers from Britain and Ireland have already been put off, which boosted the Spanish tourism sector to record numbers as people began to avoid Tunisia, Turkey, Egypt, and Greece to a lesser degree.

The Turkish hotelier has begun to notice that the bookings from Germany are also on the downswing. 2014 saw a peak of 3.9 million holidaymakers from Germany. The figure dropped to less than 2.5 million last year, and it’s expected numbers will fall again in 2017.

TÜROB prisdent Timur Bayindr commented that German bookings in Spain are quite high, there has been a sharp decline in the Turkish and Egyptian market. If there is a winner to be seen in this game then it is undoubtedly Spain.

Bayindir added Turkey expects that arrivals from the other EU nations – such as Spain, France, Belgium, and Austria – will continue to fall. However, he does expect a potential increase in tourism from Russia, Iran, and the Middle East.

The Germans have had a long-standing love of Spain, especially Majora. German tourists also tend to be the biggest spenders and stay longer than tourists from other European nations, making them great for the Spanish tourism business.