Spain doom and gloom ‘premature’?

It’s onwards and upwards for Spain as new figures reveal its enduring popularity...

According to the Survey conducted by the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce, Spain welcomed more than 15 million foreign tourists in the first quarter of 2008 - a 3.3% increase on the same period last year.

The most popular region of Spain was Cataluña with 24.6% of the total, whilst Andalucía suffered a 2.5% reduction in the number of foreign visitors over the four months. 3.9 million British visitors represented a 3.7% growth on last year, followed by 2.6 million Germans and 2.1 million French. There was also a 13% increase in the number of Scandinavian visitors and significant increases in the numbers coming from Portugal and the United States.

Ben Walker, marketing manager of PropertyInSpain.Net, commented: “It’s a buyer’s market in Spain, and those who negotiate the best property and currency deals will reap the strongest possible dividends in the future. There are now many new money saving ways for buyers to cash in on the weaker house market in Spain and at same time overcome the problems of the weakness of Sterling and other currencies against the Euro”.