Spains Sun Also Rises
Spain debuts this year as the worlds Nº1 Tourism-Friendly Country, according to a recent report published by the World Economic Forums Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index.
Spain debuts this year as the worlds Nº1 Tourism-Friendly Country, according to a recent report published by the World Economic Forums Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index.
Spain debuts this year as the world’s Nº1 Tourism-Friendly Country, according to a recent report published by the World Economic Forum’s Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index. This leading position is due to Spain’s cultural resources, infrastructure and adjustment to digital consumption trends. Other countries well-known for their touristic glamour are France, Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Italy, also ranked in the index’s Top Ten. With around 60.6 million international arrivals per year, Spain heads this prestigious list for the first time. The country, well-provided with cultural wealth and entertainment, also scored high in natural resources. It received additional points for infrastructure, travel and tourism policy and conditions, and business travel. However it ranked feebly in business environment, hiring and firing practices, and pay and productivity.
Not mentioned in the report are Spain’s summer festivals, among which the celebration of San Fermin stands out as one of the best-loved in the world. Held every year in the city of Pamplona (Navarra) from July 6th to July 14th, it consists basically in running around a series of streets in front of a small group of bulls. These “encierros”, which begin early in the morning and last a whole week, very frequently have tragic results when the animals gore the participants, sometimes to death. As is well known, Hemingway loved Spain and specially its bullfights, wine and sun. Perhaps no other American has contributed so much to advertise this country. In his novel The Sun Also Rises a group of expats travel from Paris to Pamplona to see the running of the bulls. Hemingway famously said of bullfighting that he considered it “just like having a ringside seat at the war with nothing going to happen to you”. What a cozy little thing to say.