As headlines blaze claiming that millions of travellers will see their spending money squeezed this summer as the pound slumped to an all-time low against the euro, new research by the Post Office in the UK reveals that Spain is the cheapest country in the Eurozone.
Summer holidays should be a time to relax, feel the sun and leave all those everyday worries at home. Yet this year travellers are warned to be prepared for a little black cloud to cast a shadow over the great escape to the sun.
More Britons take their holidays on the Continent than anywhere else due to short journey times and relatively cheap living costs, but in many European countries, sun seekers could be faced with an increase in their spending budgets by 10 per cent. But, while the pinch is being felt in the pockets of holidaymakers, one of the main reasons that Tenerife and Lanzarote in particular are so popular with people from Britain, and elsewhere, is the relaxed, family-oriented lifestyle that is offered.
And it is families that represent the mainstay of the tourist sector here on the Island. Paul Collins of BuyAssociation, (a website that advises people considering a move abroad) said that Spain is the most popular tourist destination for Brits, partly due to its culture and attitude towards life.
He suggested that these concepts may not be as prominent or noticeable in the UK as they once were.
“One of the attractions for a lot of people is the fact that the Spanish community and lifestyle is really easy to get into,” Mr Collins said.
“People enjoy the relaxed state of life and it’s very much family-focused - that’s something that people miss from the UK and it’s something that they like to get involved in when they go to Spain.”
The popularity of Spain as a holiday destination has led to it being one of the top countries for British investors in overseas property, with a report from Holiday Rentals showing that the country accounted for nearly a third of all British-owned holiday homes in Europe last year.
Add to that the findings of a recent report from Reuters, and the outlook is definitely more positive.
The study reveals that Spain retained its status as the world’s second most popular tourist destination in 2007, with 59.7 million visitors, according to new figures.
Statistics released by Exceltur, the company that groups Spain’s major hotel chains, travel agents and airlines, show that last year’s visitor numbers represented a 2.2 per cent increase on 2006.
Jose Luis Zoreda, executive vice-president of Exceltur, said, “For 2008, we expect 60.7 million tourists in Spain.

(taken from ThePaper)

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 20th, 2008 at 2:14 pm and is filed under Canary Islands, Information, Lifestyle, Tourism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.