SPAIN’S tourism authorities have vowed to continue
promoting the country as normal following the Madrid massacre.
At the industry’s biggest trade show, ITB in Berlin,
Spanish tourism ministry secretary general Germán Porras Olalla said the impact
of the bomb attacks would be closely monitored.
“The best way to respond to terrorism is to go on
promoting tourism to Spain. We should go on as normal. There is no sense in
announcing measures right away. No contracts have been cancelled so far. We
will wait to see how reservations develop over the next few days,” he said.
Vice-president of the International
Federation of Tour Operators Günter Ihlau agreed: “We can only confront
terrorism by maintaining normal life. This is the time to travel, and to travel
to Spain.”
Officials met with leaders of the German agents’ and
tour operators’ association, the DRV, at the show in Berlin.
Olalla said: “We’ve established a working party to
analyse the situation and adopt appropriate measures, and we will apply this to
other markets. The attacks affect not just Spain but all of Europe.”
But industry leaders at ITB remained upbeat.
World Tourism Organisation secretary general Francesco
Frangialli said: “The tourism industry was not the target. This can slow the recovery,
but the WTO is convinced it will not be reversed.”
But he admitted: “The WTO is concerned because Spain
is number two for arrivals in the world and the WTO’s headquarters are in
Madrid.”
Provisional figures released at ITB show a record 16
million UK tourists holidayed in Spain last year, almost 10% up on 2002.
But the overall rise in tourists to Spain was just
0.3% to 52.5 million, the country’s lowest tourism growth rate for at least a decade.
The WTO estimates travel to the Mediterranean showed
no growth last year compared with 2002. Spain’s second-biggest market, Germany,
is down 3% to just below 10 million.