Counselor for Tourism of the Embassy of Spain Isabel Garaña – Gastronomy and football are great ambassadors of Spanish tourism

No, our secret is that tourism is our main economic activity. It accounts for 13% of our GDP so we are very aware about how important tourism is for the employment and well being of our people. Certainly, we have an excellent leadership in the tourism markets in terms of international arrivals, international visits. We are the second country in the world in terms of international tourist visits and the first destination in the field of leisure tourism. Also, we have very good leadership in the managing of tourism sector. The Spanish tourism companies are masters in managing tourism and also there is a very good and strong cooperation between the public  and the private sector. We have an excellent tourism product and a very good advantage which is our quality-price ratio. The quality of our tourism offer is excellent and we are going towards deseasonalized tourism little by little, we are developing a lot of tourist experience to spread tourism around Spain. So, yea, this is why it is no secret but the result of a very  good job and determination. Spain is a Mediterranean country and also in the field of  food and agriculture we have good food sector and of course the tourism offer is very authentic and the exclusivity of the Spanish tourism is precisely because we have a good connection with food production and we mostly offer/consume local products.

I don’t think it’s going to influence the decision of the people because people don’t travel only one time a year. Look at yourself, when you were a kid, for instance, I suppose that you had a month of holidays that everybody used to have. So we used to do a trip with our family in our home country or perhaps abroad but we used to travel once a year when we were kids. Now for sure, you visit some relatives, go on a business trip, go to long weekend trip… So, we don’t think that we are going to be influenced by this football cup that is going to be in Germany. There is a very different motivation to go there and enjoy the EuroCup. I hope we will win this year. We have a great team but we are sure the best will win.

I have to tell you that we are so lucky that our main football teams are excellent ambassador to position Spain, mostly for the long haul markets. And in the beginning what was very well known were the big football teams- Barcelona, Real Madrid and they are very strong brands, beyond just football clubs so they are excellent tools for the image. I have to tell you Im not very specialized in football but they for sure, position Spain in the international markets. And regarding what you said about soap operas, yes, learning Spanish is important because it is very important language in the world. it is the second most spoken language but for native people, so the most spoken language is English but not by the native people. So learning Spanish is getting really important for the business market. So that can also be a very good motivation to travel to Spain, we have excellent offers like federation of schools that teaches Spanish as a foreign language and it is very well developed offer in Spain. It is a very good experience because the people who come to Spain to learn Spanish they can approach gastronomy, culture and the cities so its a great tourism experience. The soap operas are also helping us, of course.

Well, the good news is that Spain has great net of transport inside the country. It is very efficient, very easy and very quick. You can arrive in international airport not only Madrid or Barcelona, we have many international airports and air connections from Croatia. And once you are in Spain, we have excellent high speed train network that you can use. Spain is a very good country for high speed train because you can cross the country in 3 hours. For instance from Madrid to Barcelona its going to take you 2 and a half hours, from Madrid to Sevilla it’s going to take you 2 and a half hours. Perhaps you might change a bit but it will be very efficient and easy. The bad news is that with your motivation you have plenty of choices and the good news is that you can go to Spain many times. You can have an itinerary around the north of Spain which is beautiful. And tonight, we are going to have a chef from the Basque country to serve for The world tapas day. It is the way we pay tribute to Spain’s gastronomy though one cultural manifestation  that pictures well the spanish lifestyle, which is tapas. Tapas portraits very well the welcoming and the hospitality lifestyle of Spain so as I mentioned, you can tour the north of Spain where you have four regions with fantastic landscape and incredible gastronomy. You can also explore the hinterlands where we have developed a very good Spanish products which are the wine goods. There are many wine routes in Spain and there is a whole, very sophisticated tourism offer developed around these beautiful wineries sometimes done by famous architects like Frank Gehry, Santiago Calatrava just to mention a few.The four regions in the north are the Basque Country, which is the closest to France, than you have Cantabria, going from east to west, it is a wonderful country, full of wonderful regions, golf courses, then, you can go to Asturias.The capital city of the region, Oviedo has been named this years Spains gastronomy capital. Then you have Galicia, it is most known as the end of Camino de Santiago but it is also full of culture and gastronomy. So you can have a very nice time and all regions are very well connected and also there is a very good highway that goes through all the north part of Spain.

Regarding that girl: Hola, no tengo trabajo y vivo con mis padres. Me invitas a una berbida?

I don’t know exactly how much is expenditure per day, but it is important. In Spain we have developed golf courses that are chosen for the most important golf tournaments in the world. We have to mention Valderrama, for instance, in the south of Spain. It has been home to Ryder Cup. One of the most imporatant golf players right now is spanist- Jon Rahm, he is from Bilbao. It is the capital city of one of the provinces of the Basque country. And we have other legends like Seve Ballesteros, José Maria Olazábal they are big stars. That is why we have a strong tradition of golf. In Spain there some of the most important golf courses, we are pretty strong in the british market, for instance, and golf for the british people is primary motivation to travel. And also, you can play golf all year round. (the water used for the golf courses is recycled water with no problem of over consumption)

The goal of our marketing strategy is to move towards always better model that makes our country more sustainable from the economical, social and enviromental point of view. We want more profitable tourism every year and we want to achieve this sustainability is our goal. We are always seeking to attract high value tourist and what is high value tourism for us is that they want to travel out of season. They have different motivation that makes them travel out of season to help us deseasonalize our country. Also, a tourist that has a broader motivation other than merely go on the beach. That is interested in our country, our food offer, our natural offer of our biosphere reserves by UNESCO. Spain is the country with the most UNESCO reserves and there are 53 of them, so very big percentage of Spain’s territory is protected. Half of it is national parks or reserves of the biosphere, natural reserves. Also, we want to do the most of tourism in terms of croatian unemployment and wellbeing of spanish citizens. We are seeking tourists that will be respectful towards our culture, enviroment, our territory and our people. And this is mostly, our main tourism strategy to have the leadership as in tourism, also in sustainability.

Its not that we are hiring but we have a marketing plan so we develop actions and also, yes, we are counting on international cooperation, as we are developing international marketing campaigns. It’s a part of our strategy, certainly. Depending on the market but the creation of marketing content is key nowadays so that’s why it’s very important. Our main markets are the Europeans because of the vicinity. The British is our main market, sometimes the french or the Germans are our second, the third are the Italians, then the Netherlands and the Scandinavians but also we are starting to be very strong with the United States. We are also, super strong in the Latin American countries because of the language. So, Mexico, Colombia and other countries are starting to become very important to Spain. But also, we are stressing our promotion in Asia, China, Japan…

Spanish culture is very important and Spanish movies are very important and also the Spanish cinemas and directors. They are also sometimes excellent ambassadors for international tourism markets.

Of course it is the most important interview in my professional career and I have told you that I don’t feel fulfilled as a tourism professional until I have done this interview which I certainly appreciate.

I will tell you this since I was very interested in your professional profile and you are also into gastronomy, I have to tell you that is excellent motivation to visit Spain. Gastronomy is very important for us. It is something that we trust, all the Spanish people, public administration, private sector, we trust that our gastronomy is wonderful ambassador of Spain. We have to take in consideration that the gastronomy is the first thing you will try when you come to Spain. We don’t know what you are going to do but for sure you are going to eat. So our gastronomy is very diverse and representative of each and every territory in the country so by tasting the gastronomy of a place you immerse yourself in the culture. You link yourself with this place and you will start to feel that you are immersed in the local culture. We work very much in the gastronomy of Spain as a strategy  and as I mentioned to you, this year we are having many Spanish restaurants in the best 50 in the world but also in the first place Disfrutar in Barcelona and the second place Asador Etxebarri in the Basque Country. Also for the third year in a row Spanish chef Dabiz Muñoz is named the best cook in the world. We have many, many restaurants with Michelin stars, as I mentioned, San Sebastian, the capital city of Donostia is the city with the highest number of restaurants with Michelin stars by square kilometer. So Spain’s gastronomy is something we are super proud of and confident about. You can go to the Basque Country, for instance, in San Sebastian and go to very nice dinner near the wonderful beach of La Concha to have fantastic sea fish with some Txakoli which is the white wine of the Basque Country.

Author: Josip Novosel aka Vin Diesel for poor people aka Dear Leader Joe, correspondent member of the magazine “I like Spain, but I don’t wanna lose a football game again”, first and foremost a man, and only then a tycoon and Gastro Snob.

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