Tourist arrivals start to pick up again as economic crisis passes

The Spanish tourist industry this year had its best August for arrivals since 2006, but the country has yet to reach post-crisis levels amid stronger competition from cheaper destinations such as Turkey.
The Industry, Tourism and Trade Ministry said the number of overseas visitors rose 4 percent last month froma year earlier to just under 7 million. But disregarding last year when arrivals fell 8 percent, the figure for this August was the lowest since 2004.
Industry Minister Miguel Sebastián attributed the improvement to a pick-up in the key UK market where the economic downturn combined with the weakness of the pound had kept British visitors away in droves. The Italian and French markets also improved as the crisis eased