One
area of the flagging Spanish economy that continues to motor along is tourism,
with the country attracting both record overseas visitors in August as well as
overnight stays in hotels.
According
to the Industry, Energy and Tourism Ministry’s latest FRONTUR survey, the
number of foreign arrivals last month climbed 7.1 percent to 8.3 million,
buoyed by a surge in Russian and Nordic visitors. As a result, the number of
overnight stays in hotels in the month hit a record 42 million, an increase of
3.5 percent from a year earlier.
As
a tourist destination, Spain has benefitted from wariness about rival markets
such as Turkey, where political tensions prevail, and Egypt, which is
experiencing a spiral of street violence.








