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Spain has granted more than 78,000 visas to Algerian nationals in 2023 while the Iberian kingdom plans to welcome a total of 91 million tourists during the year 2024, a historic record.
“A total of 78,622 visas were granted in 2023 to Algerians out of a total of 120,000 requests,” a government official said in Madrid. Young Independent. The same source specified that 48,100 visas were granted by the Spanish consulate in Algiers and 30,522 others were granted by the consulate in Oran. This is a higher number of visas than that of 2022 which was around 51,000, after the resumption of international flights following the Corona pandemic.
The official added that the visas only concern Shengen visas and do not include those of students, businessmen and people leaving for treatment, i.e. those whose duration exceeds 90 days. He indicated that for the year 2024, the trend is almost similar and should exceed 80,000.
Despite these increasing figures, Spain remains far behind France which granted a total of 206,000 Shengen visas in 2023. France remains the preferred destination for Algerians due to the number of the Algerian diaspora established in France, the largest abroad.
Furthermore, the Iberian kingdom plans to welcome nearly 91 million foreign visitors this year, according to the latest tourism barometer published by the consulting company Braintrust, a new record for tourism in Spain which exceeds all forecasts. This mass of tourists should enable Spain to generate around 125 billion euros in revenue, indicates the consulting company.
Spain’s tourism GDP is expected “for the first time to exceed 200 billion euros” in 2024, said José Luis Zoreda, vice-president of Exceltur. According to Exceltur estimates, activity should indeed cross this threshold to reach 202.651 billion, an increase of 8.6% compared to 2023, which had already experienced “a spectacular growth rate”.
The tourism sector, pillar of the Spanish economy, would then represent 13.3% of national GDP. From the first quarter of 2024, tourism activity recorded an increase of 13.8% in the country. According to Exceltur, Spain benefits from its “favorable security situation compared to other destinations in the Eastern Mediterranean in the face of the escalation in the conflict in the Middle East” but also from the “resumption of travel at global level, notably of the Asian market” after the Covid pandemic which had a strong impact on the sector.
Other parameters that determine good tourism forecasts for Spain are security, accommodation capacity, the state of infrastructure, the hospitality of the Spanish and the modernization of Spanish businesses. Braintrust also discusses the change in the tourism model towards excellence and quality.
In 2023, Spain welcomed a record 85.1 million international tourists, mainly from the United Kingdom, France, the United States, South Korea and Germany, the Institute said Spanish National Statistics Office (INE). Spain has overtaken France, which welcomed some 63 million tourists the same year.
Faced with this record influx, movements opposed to “overtourism” are multiplying, from the Balearic Islands to the Canaries via Barcelona and Málaga. Catalonia is at the top of the preferred destinations for tourists, followed by the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands, Andalusia, the Community of Madrid and the Community of Valencia.
Asked about this subject, José Luis Zoreda did not hide the sector’s concern. “Our concern is to continue to grow tourism in Spain in a sustainable way, without generating social rejection,” he said.
Exceltur, which has been advocating for years a reorientation of tourism to move away from dependence on “sol y playa” (sun and beach), wishes to “contain growth that does not take into account the beneficial collateral effects for society”, a- he added.
According to this forecast, growth is anticipated for each quarter of 2024, repositioning Spain among the world leaders in tourism. Therefore, the tourism sector will play an even more crucial role in the Spanish economy, accounting for 15% of GDP and creating 20% of direct and indirect jobs in the coming decades.