Pgina 1 Madrid, Spain, December 29, 2008 – As one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations, Spain has a vested interest in staying competitive.  After decades of success in attracting millions of visitors and expanding tourism beyond its beaches to all 17 of its autonomous regions, Spanish tourism officials realized new policies and approaches were needed to adjust to current societal needs and to ensure that tourism continued to be a mainstay of the country’s economy.  Even before sustainability became a trendy buzz word in environmental and conservation circles, tourism officials were taking an inventory of Spain’s tourism infrastructure and carefully making plans for future development.  Last year they laid the groundwork in a comprehensive strategic document, the Plan del Turismo Horizonte 2020, Tourism Plan Horizon 2020, designed to improve the quality of the country’s tourism product by the year 2020. To ensure that Spain stays competitive in today’s marketplace, officials understand that it is vital to develop business models that are environmentally, socially and culturally sustainable.  Protection of the country’s natural scenery as well as its wealth of cultural monuments is vital.  To that end they have allocated $1.9 billion annually and identified a number of measures to be adopted: - Encourage social responsibility about conservation and the environment and develop cutting-edge prototypes that break new ground in terms of sustainability - Plan strategically and manage the growth of regional destinations through careful development and a shared public and private sector dialogue - Enhance “mature” destinations to entice different types of visitors and create an attractive environment with more economic, social and environmental benefits for residents and visitors alike - Fine tune the impact of tourism by extending the traditional tourist season  - Raise visibility for lesser-known areas of the country to balance the number of visitors throughout its 17 regions  - Adopt “best practices” methods that will be most effective in relieving the effects of climate change - Continue to create an innovative tourism product

Pgina 2 By the end of 2008, Spain will have welcomed some 58 million visitors, a slight decrease from the record year of 2007, but certainly acceptable given the current world economic crisis which began last fall.  American arrivals are expected to be over the million mark, which is basically the same as last year.  Tourism revenues last year were $56.86 billion, and the industry currently contributes 11 percent of the country’s gross domestic product. During the first tourism boom which kicked off in the 1960s, Spain focused on drawing visitors to its beautiful Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts and its islands.  With year-round temperate weather, visitors could travel to the Canary Islands in the winter, the Balearic Islands in the spring and fall and Andalusia or Valencia almost any time of the year.  This sol y playa, or “sun and beach” image persisted in Spain’s marketing for several decades. Tourism officials have realized that in order to remain competitive, they must focus on promoting other aspects, such as Spain’s rich patrimony of art and architecture.  The city fathers of Madrid and Barcelona have been listening.  In the last five years, museums there have doubled in size and striking new cultural centers have debuted.  Another focus of Spain’s strategic plan is enticing visitors to Spain’s lesser-known and less-developed regions.  Interestingly, several areas that have taken the initiative are in regions of the country that are not that familiar to American travelers, like the wine area of Ribera del Duero, the northern region of Asturias and Aragón which last year hosted the International Expo under the theme, “Water and Sustainable Development.” Expo organizers were determined to achieve a close-to-zero environmental cost and succeeded in covering almost 100 percent of the event’s energy demand using solar  panels, wind parks and a hydrogen generation plant. Consumption of fossil fuels was virtually nonexistent during the Expo. Currently, 20 percent of Spain’s energy needs is covered by renewable energy sources. The country is in the forefront of the world’s wind technology with wind farms sprouting up on the plains of La Mancha, Don Quixote country and throughout the country.  In 2007, wind covered 11 percent of Spain’s energy demands.  Since the sun shines in most parts of Spain – Andalusia and Almeria boast 300 hours of sunshine a year – solar energy is another source that both public and private sector tourism partners are analyzing. The Spanish hotel sector has been in the forefront of the push towards sustainable tourism.  Solar panels dot the roofs of luxury five-star resorts as well as tiny casas rurales, and properties throughout the country are refurbishing and renovating with the intention of conserving energy. While there’s still plenty of work to be done, Spain’s Ministry of Tourism is taking a strategic, measured and responsible approach to the future.  For further information about Spain contact the Tourist Office of Spain in New York (212-265-8822); Miami (305-358-1992); Chicago (312-642-1992) or Los Angeles (323-658-7195) or go to www.spain.info/us

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