The Tourism Industry In Spain

The Tourism Industry In Spain Spain developed its tourism during the last years of dictators Franco governance, when the country became a popular place for summer holidays, especially for tourists from Northern Europe (UK, France, Germany and Scandinavia). It is said that mass tourism started that time because Francos government needed money and dedided to open up its coasts for tourism. . At that time, Mallorca, Costa del Sol and all multi-storey buildings on the coast were built. Murcia and Almeria were not built because there did not have a good network. This was what protected them. However, in the minds of the locals this was the cause of their poverty (Barke et al. 1996:120). Since then, Spain has become the second the most visited country in the world (the first one is France). 60 million foreign tourists arrived in Spain in 2007, according to the data provided by the World Tourism Organization (2007), that its offices are in Madrid. The cost of tourism in Spain is over $ 46 billion per year, the highest tourism expenditure worldwide except for U.S. that has tourism expenditure of $ 74 billion (Sinclair et al. 2008:75). Summer resorts and beaches This form of tourism was the first that was developed in Spain, and today is the one that has received more income grants and subsidies form the state economy. The nice and warm climate during the whole year and the long beaches on the Mediterranean and South Atlantic, as well as Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands have been visited by tourists from northern Europe for decades. These summer resorts are popular among Spaniards as well. The Spanish coasts that suitable for summer holidays include: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Costa Dorada, Costa Brava and del Maresme, located in Catalonia, which are very popular for local and French tourists, including the popular resorts like Salou and the city of Barcelona which is also the largest port in Spain. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Costa del Azahar, whose main city is Valencia and Costa Blanca, (one of the most developed Spanish coastal regions, extremely popular for tourists from Great Britain and Germany, having Benidorm as the main summer city of Spain. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Costa Calida. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The side de Almerà ­a, the tropical side, Costa del Sol and Costa de la Luz, all of them are found in Andalucà ­a. Some of its summer resorts are famous all over the world, like Marbella, a tourist resort for tourists with important spending capacity. Finally, one of the largest Spanish ports, is Malaga (Fsadni and Selwyn 1997:66). The volcanic Canary Islands in the Atlantic, and the Balearic Islands are two famous Spanish archipelagos. Many Spaniards and foreigners visit them because they are very popular. Apart from the summer tourism, there are other forms of tourism such as cultural, sport or fun tourism. Two cities, Barcelona and Valencia (the two largest ports in the Mediterranean side of Spain) are among them. Tourism of the beaches (Beach Tourism) has also contributed to the development of nightlife, as well as to the Spanish excellent food culture. Important from the ecological and natural aspect are many places both coastal and island Theme and water-fun parks like Port Aventura are also popular among the local population and foreigners (Eden 1996:48). Long ago it became known in Europe Senior Tourism program that allows people over 55 to enjoy a holiday social tourism in Spain with low cost. The program subsidizes the EU holiday in the Balearic Islands and Andalusia in periods of low tourist traffic from October 2009 until April 2010. The indicative costs where the agency is about 400 euros for 8 days 4stars at selected hotels with full board, tickets, tours, and more. Tourist Packages in Spain are part of the program Calypso approved by Parliament with a budget of 1 million euros and refers to the promotion of social tourism with the participation of Member States. Cultural and business tourism Spain is a country full of culture and therefore, it is a popular destination for cultural tourism due to its historical importance, including cities like Seville, Granada, Cà ³rdoba and Toledo. UNESCO has declared the following Spanish cities as World Heritage Cities: Alcalà ¡ de Henares, à vila, Cà ¡ceres, Cà ³rdoba, Cuenca, Ibiza, Salamanca, La Laguna SAN Cristà ³bal de, Santiago de Compostela, Segovia, Tarragona and Toledo (Maiztegui-Onate 1996:84). Madrid and Barcelona (two big Spanish metropolis) are famous historical places and are also part of cultural tourism. In addition, there are other important places in Spain with cultural importance are: Coruà ±a and Vigo, in Galicia, Santander Cantabria, Oviedo and Gijà ³n Asturias, Bilbao and San Sebastià ¡n in the Basque country. North Spain has such a green landscape that resembles to the UKs and Ireland landscape and this is why it is Green Spain. They have many important folklore, nature and culinary aspects and they are even suitable for summer vacations despite the fact that the beaches of North Spain are colder than the Mediterranean ones. Spain is also an important place for religion, mainly Judaism and Christianity.The city of Santiago de Compostela Galicia (northwest Spain) are holly places. This city is the third holiest place in the christian world after the Vatican City of Rome and Jerusalem. The fourth holiest place is Camino de Santiago followed by the sanctuary Caravaca de la Cruz in the southeast area. These places attract tourism from all over the world (Robinson 1996:210). The many celebrations and festivals in Spain. A very famous one is the Holy Week in cities like Seville and Carthage. Very popular also is the Seville Exhibition or Feria de Abril in Spanish, the celebrations of Spring (Fiestas de Primavera) which include the famous Entierro de la Sardina (Burial of the sardine) and La Huerta EL Bando de (the area of the orchard) This festival attracts crowds from both inside and outside Spain. There are also the festivals Carthaginians and Romans of Carthage, the festival of San Fermin of Pamplona famous worldwide, the Fiestas del Pilar in Zaragoza etc. The celebrations in small towns are also very popular. Spain has a lot of cultural festivals, including the Carnival all over Spain, but particularly the festivals of the Canary Islands and Cadiz. San Sebastian, Malaga and Sitges have famous film festivals. The Lorca Rock, FIB, Festimad, and Primavera sound are some indicative music festivals. Several cities have hosted international events:Catholic exhibition in 1888 and 1929 in Barcelona, the Olympics of 1992, also in Barcelona, the catholic exhibition of 1992 in Seville, the 2008 world exhibition in Zaragoza and the Americas Cup in Valencia (Selwyn 1997:93). The Europe Senior Tourism program is another tourist attraction source of Spain. This program allows people over 55 to enjoy low cost holidays of social tourism in Spain. It is an EU program that subsidizes vacations in the Balearic Islands and Andalusia in periods of low tourist traffic namely, from October 2009 until April 2010. The indicative cost depending on the tourist agency is about 400 euros for 8 days at selected 4stars hotels with full board, tickets, tours etc. Tourist Packages in Spain are part of the program Calypso which was approved by the European Parliament with a budget of 1 million euros and refers to the promotion of social tourism with the participation of Member States. Tourism in Spain and financial data The sightseeing visits and payments in 2008 (Sinclair et al. 2008:85)are the following: Greece Spain Italy France Turkey Visitors (in millions) 17 57,4 42.7 79.3 25 Revenue ($ billions) 17.1 61.6 41.7 55.6 22 . From the above numbers, it is easily concluded that Spain is a major tourist destination, but it also attracts high-level tourists who spend enough money, since it has the best revenue ratio per visitor among the major European destinations! The tourist development of the country is organized. Some areas are developed for very high level tourism as Marbella. Some areas are selected for mass tourism, as for example Benidorm which is a Spanish Miami with 4 million visitors every year or not Liouret de Mar and Rosas in Costa Brava. In addition, tourism is organized in large hotels, which have lower costs and higher bargaining power with the major tour operators. One example is the Sol Melia which has a revenue of 1.3 billion euros, 35,000 employees at 270 hotels from Brazil to China. Another example is Iberostar with 102 hotels in 15 countries and 1 billion revenue, 23,000 employees and around 70,000 beds. However, if financial data get more analyzed the following will be concluded: Spain in 2008 (Sinclair et al. 2008:94) welcomed 57.4 million visitors, representing 1.8 million fewer than last year, which means a fall of 3.1%. This fact has occurred since 1997, the year when, the statistical monitoring of the tourist industry began. This decline is mainly due to the decrease in arrivals from France and the United Kingdom which are two of the three main countries of foreign tourists in Spain. The ratio of reduced tourist traffic is attributed to a decline in the economies of these two countries. So, after the sectors of construction and industry, there was the turn of the tourism sector to cope with crisis. This sector represents 10.7% of Spanish GDP and employs 13.5% of the workforce of the country. The areas with the highest tourist traffic in 2008 were: Catalonia with 14,193,952 tourists (-6.7%), the Balearic Islands with 10,288,958 tourists (+1.4%), the Canary Islands with 9,363,219 tourists , (-1%), Andalusia with 8,147,688 tourists (-4%), the region of Valencia with 5,655,801 tourists (+0.2%) and Madrid with 4,564,345 tourists (+3.6% ). The tourists in the country in 2008 and the percentage change compared to 2007 is as follows: Table 1 Countries of origin Number of tourists % change compared to 2007 United Kingdom 15.749.000 -3.0 Germany 10.048.939 -0.2 France 8.151.449 -8.5 Scandinavian countries 3.574.398 +3.0 Italy 3.464.241 -5.8 Netherlands 2.502.060 +0.4 Portugal 2.291.146 -3.5 Ireland 1.659.327 +1.5 Belgium 1.626.983 -4.7 Switzerland 1.282.740 -6.7 Rest of Europe 3.262.834 +11.6 USA 1.133.801 -1.5 Rest of America 1.331.449 -6.1 Rest of the world 1.339.499 -12.2 TOTAL 57.417.871 -2.6 Source: Spanish Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce Table 2 Year Number of tourists (in millions) % change compared to 2007 1997 39.5 1998 41.8 5.9 1999 45.4 8.5 2000 46.4 2.1 2001 48.5 4.7 2002 50.3 3.6 2003 50.8 1.0 2004 52.4 3.1 2005 55.9 6.6 2006 58.1 4.1 2007 59.1 1.7 2008 57.4 -3.1 Source: Spanish Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce Criticism of the Spanish model of tourism The Spanish model has disappointed its original supporters. The promising North European market turns its back to Spain. The temporary economic gains in the housing market and in the construction market of vacation houses have already begun to subside. Unlike the most optimistic forecasts of the real estate lobby, these investments in 2005 showed a decrease of 16.7%. The decrease of 6% in 2004 was interpreted as a slight variation, and not as a big change (Casado Diaz 2006:78). Foreign investments in the real estate sector dropped by 0.9%. The property market in Spain has began to have a negative reputation among potential customers of northern Europe, while international organizations talk about the need to manage a soft landing of the specific market to avoid unpleasant and extended economic consequences. The rampant construction of holiday homes and hotels in coastal areas has begun to generate negative consequences. The freely accessible places on the beaches have been reduced overcrowding and disturbing activities are increasing, the water quality is deteriorating having as an effect the undermining of the overall tourism policy in Spain. The professional organizations of hoteliers call for an immediate discontinuation of coastal areas building programs. Lastly, there is the growing trend for creating golf courses at the new holiday home complexes and the subsequent environmental consequences (Wall 1997:105). Indeed, it is planned an increase in golf areas despite the saturation of these facilities. It is estimated that each year 10 new stadiums are built and in ten years, there will be 500 golf areas (Mc Laren 2002:187). The strengthening of trend of creating new golf areas is based on the fact that golfers spend on average much more money per person. The reaction to this new situation was an attempt to redefine tourism policy (Newton 1996: 150). The fall in profits encouraged the adoption of positions that until recently was criticized inthe tourism industry. The Mediterranean coasts of Spain gather 15,600,000 residents who represent 39% of the total population. The length of its coastline is 7268. and 68% of the population lives in an area of 100 km from the coast, where the corresponding figure for the entire world population is 39%. Urbanization is so widespread that 85% of the population the Mediterranean coast lives in cities with populations over 10,000 inhabitants (Kirkby 1996:240). In general, in recent years, there has been recorded a significant deterioration of the coastal areas of Spain despite the existence of relative specific legislation. The situation in some coastal areas is as follows (Casado Diaz 2001:77): In the region of Catalonia, nearly 50% of one kilometre lane from the coast is built. 59% of the coastline has already been built. It is estimated that 70% of the coast will be built within the next years. Specific parts of the coasts of Mà ¡laga have been built 100% and this trend is spreading to the shores of Granada, Almeria, Kadid and Huelva. 90% of the Andalusian coast faces already problems of environmental degradation. Even natural area parks, such as the Cabo de Gata-Nijar in Almeria, have become an area of housing development programs and projects. The rapid urbanization and population growth of the region of Murcia has led to an increase of population growth in two years (1999 2000) by 15% bringing a significant pressure for further residential development and reduction of free and public spaces. Many coastal regions of Valencia have been built. 33% of the total coastal area shows residential development. Specific areas such as Alicante have been built at a rate exceeding 40% of its coasts. The urban development plans of the region have occasionally been the subject of study and complaints from the European Commission (Bramwell 1996:453). Indeed, the latter has proposed the imposition of a moratorium on the urban development to address the related deficiencies in design and ensure the protection of the environmental conditions of the development process (Casado Diaz et al. 2004:363). Conclusion Spain remains a country of great beauty and high tourist interest. The model, however, of mass tourism that has followed does not seem to be as successful as it was in the past and the country should follow modern tourism practices that will help it remain competitive in the future. A basic prerequisite for a successful redefined tourism strategy should be the concern for the environment and the reduction of residential development (Hunter Jones et al.1997:291).

Media Violence and Its Effects Essay -- Media

Imagine one day you lost your television. You lost your favorite talk show, your CNN, your favorite cartoon and all of your connections to the whole world. Throughout decades, media have became one of the most powerful weapons in the world. As time passed, more and more varieties of media were shown, like television, magazines, and internet. From reporting the news to persuading us to buy certain products, media became the only connection between people and the world. But violence in media is shown everywhere, it is hard to turn on your media source and not find violence displayed on the screen, no matter its television, internet, print media, or even radio. Eventually, media became a contributing factor to violent and aggressive behavior of youngsters, especially teenagers. Media violence has caused many negative effects in society. The main reasons for the unstoppable growth of media violence are because of the continue disregard of this matter, the demand for violence from the aud ience, and the effects it has on youngsters. The society is accepting everything media shows as a ...

Wilmot Proviso

It could be said that the American Civil War was brought on by Americans need to expand its territories and the one sided Mexican War. The whole debate or controversy over this expansion was David Wilmot’s (and his squad of backers: Hamlin, Brinkerhoff, and King) trying to implement the Wilmot Proviso into the funding for the Mexican territories we acquired. The proviso actually fueled the debate over slavery into the newly acquired territories by trying to make the territories slave free acquisitions. The Wilmot Proviso was a simply desire to make newly acquired territories free from slavery.As pointed out in the opening of this discussion however, banning slavery in these territories was a mute point in the fore front. So what impact did the Wilmot Proviso have on the debate over slavery in America? It actually seemed to create a debate were one did not actually exist. The debate or desire to ban slavery was created by Democratic House members (anti-slavery members) who were afraid that the Whig party would spin the War with Mexico into their desire to expand slavery. [1] So the very party that supported slavery issues had the desire to ban slavery in the new territories anyway.Although these few anti-slavery Democrats did not represent the whole, the desire was there and they wanted the territories to be free. Given, this move was to keep the Whig party from making the accusations that the Democrats were moving to expand the real estate for slavery. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era, even points out that Congressman from the northern states tried to enact a proviso banning from the territories acquired by a war in which two-thirds of the volunteer soldiers had come from slave states. General Taylor was a slaveholder but opposed the expansion of slavery when he became president. 2] McPherson examines the irony of this fact as well as many other ironies that were to do with the Mexican War and the Civil War.Another point that McPherson makes is that the men won the Mexican War because of the marksmanship and elan of their mixed divisions of regulars and volunteers and above all because of the professionalism and courage of their junior officers. Yet the competence of these men foreshadowed the ultimate irony of the Mexican War, for many of the best of them would fight against each other in the next war. 3] This is pretty powerful stuff that McPherson is feeding us, pointing out the fact that nearly the same group of men who fought the Mexican War would face one another again during the Civil War. The fact that they were so successful in the first led them to face one another in the second partly due to the Wilmot Proviso and other factors that revolved supposedly around the slavery issue. Taking a different avenue of approach on the supposed fact that slavery and the Wilmot Proviso was the cause and sole factor of the Civil War.During and in the heat of the Wilmot Proviso debate, many southern lawmakers began to question the right of Congress to determine the status of slavery in any territory. According to John Calhoun, the territories belonged to all the states. Why should a citizen of one stated be denied the right to make his property, including slave, into territory owned by all? This line of reasoning began to dominate the southern argument. [4] So here now enters the government encroaching on the rights of the southern states and overreaching its authority to tell them what they could and could not do in their territories.So, although slavery was the catalyst, the southerners began to turn the whole issue into â€Å"rights† issue that revolved around properties. The federal government began meddling in the rights of the states to govern its domain. So the fact that the Wilmot Proviso was trying to govern who and who â€Å"could not† have slaves was a violation of the state’s rights. The issue moved from one of abstraction to one involving practical matters. The n ature of the Constitution, slavery, the value of free labor, political power, and ultimately political realignment were all involved in the debate. 5] The southerners started to become enraged at the fact they were being told what to do and how to do it. So what was the impact of the Wilmot Proviso on the debate over slavery in America? Some would say that the Wilmot Proviso is one of the top five reasons or causes for the Civil War and I might have to agree with that as well. In my opinion, the proviso just fueled the fire on the slavery debate simply due to the fact that it was pointless in the sense they were trying to impose a ban on in area that would have not really benefited from the use of slaves anyway.The areas of Texas, Arizona, and California were not geographic areas where slaves would have made a great deal of difference anyway so the proviso was pointless to them. The proviso was trying to impose a ban on slavery in areas where there was to be little need for slaves a nyway. So the proviso was just a platform to them to impose slavery bans in the south and expand their agenda on the issue. The southern states saw the proviso as an insult to the Southern states and their stand on slavery.Of course, I do think they were moving in the right direction from a humanitarian standpoint they were going about it the wrong way. The debate should have been over the constitutionality of the issue all together and the rights of all men/women. They even entertained the thought of popular sovereignty but that would just have let the issue as is because the southern states would have left it like it was and the northern states would have moved to abolish it all together. Let us not forget that the southern states were not the only areas that possessed slaves.The northern states and citizens did indeed possess slaves in large numbers and many of the politicians pushing the issue of banning it were slave owners themselves. So, in a hypocritical fashion, they were p reaching one thing and practicing another. This could not have been favorable to their standpoint at all. Sounds a lot like our politicians today and the way they practice government of late. The point made and known today is that slavery was wrong, inhuman, and unjust and we know that today. The reasons or thought process they used then to justify what they were doing boggles the mind and makes you wonder.It should have been made law without question and the Wilmot Proviso was a move towards that fact. The only ones that were offended or involved were the ones that were practicing this and most of those were wealthy farmers and beau crates and the most common of people could have cared less.[1] http://blueandgraytrial. com/event/Wilmot_Proviso [2] James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era. Oxford Press 1988, p. 4 [3] Ibid, p. 4 [4] www. ushistory. org/us/30b [5] Michael F. Holt, The Political Crises of the 1850 s. 1978, p. 50

Types Of Social Research Methods - 1120 Words

Assessment Item 1 Both quantitative and qualitative research are identified as 2 of the 5 ideal ‘types’ of social research methods. Quantitative research can be identified as closed questioned and predetermined whereas qualitative research is characterised as being open and inclusive of subject influence. Quantitative research is the oldest form of social research, developing from the intellectual tradition known as ‘positivist or realist’ studies. The research type is based on the theory that there is an objective reality that can be accurately measured and that works through â€Å"natural laws† that can be discovered though extensive research. Research is done from an objective standpoint conducted from the ‘outside’, with the theory†¦show more content†¦(Chonody, n.d.) Qualitative research contradicts quantitative research as it identified as inductive, as the research can be characterised as developing from detailed viewpoints or interactions to more general ideologies. Qualitative researchers begin their research with no preconceived ideas of the patterns of the research, they allow the patterns to develop naturally as the research progresses. Qualitative research is based on the concept of immersing yourself as a researcher in the world of your subjects, with the attempt to understand how they experience life. This is achieved through the use of careful observations, in depth interviews and a variety of other open question based methods. The theories that qualitative researches make are built from the patterns they observe in their data after they have done their questioning, as opposed to quantitative researchers that will conduct a hypothesis before interviewing their subjects. Another key difference in quantitative and qualitative research is the researcher’s standpoint on objective research. Quantitative researchers proclaim the importance of objectivity and a value free approach to their research; whereas qualitative researchers dismiss the concept of objective research and argue that social research can never be value free. (Alston, Bowles, 2012, p.13). A form of quantitative research