Editorial:
Tourism is in full flood and the cash-registers are ringing. Unemployment is down as summer jobs abound. The hotels are jealously protecting their (astronomical) winnings by beating off unregulated small-time landlords and, worse for them, the new Internet holiday schemes like Airbnb. There are warm queues outside each cash-point (most now charging two euros or more for non-account holders) and many of the two million or so Northern European residents have given up the unequal struggle and either stay quietly at home, panting in the heat, or else they have left for a visit to their countries of birth. Festivals, smoke, noise, music, crowds and – above all – profit. September is still a month away...
Housing:
‘Mallorca's most luxurious homes. The Balearic island of Mallorca is raising the luxury property stakes, boasting some of the most expensive coastal hotspots in Spain’, headline from The Telegraph.
House sales rose in June (17% year-on-year) and El País forecasts 400,000 sales in 2016.
Tourism:
‘In the first half of this year, Spain registered a new record for international tourists’ spending, which reached 28,287 million euros, representing an increase of 7.4% over the same period of 2014...’. Item from Kyero.
‘Hoteliers pressure Spain to tax unlicensed Airbnb-style rentals. Hoteliers in Spain and internationally are seeing their profits drop as customers increasingly turn to websites such as Airbnb for accommodation. A recent study by Esade suggests that as many as 49% of Spain’s holiday rentals are unlicensed and untaxed...’. From The Olive Press.
‘“¡Viva España!” screamed the headline on the webpage of the UK newspaper The Daily Mail a few weeks ago, surprising those who are more accustomed to the tabloid’s usual menu of xenophobia and anti-European sentiment...’. From an article at El País in English.
Spanish air-controllers have decided to drop any stoppages over August, saying they will decide later in September whether to return to their protests against Enaire. More here.
The Spanish hotel association CEHAT is mounting a campaign against those populist politicians who ‘are attempting to demonise Tourism’ – by suggesting applying local tourist taxes or allowing non-regulated rooms and apartment rent. Well, you get the picture. See Nexotour here.
Finance:
A special budget has been presented, with the needs of the tax-payer, public workers and – above all – the Partido Popular very much in evidence. Here’s El País in English headline: ‘Government pledges to cut taxes if it wins upcoming general elections’ and first paragraph: ‘With general elections looming, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s government on Tuesday unveiled its long-awaited budget for 2016, which includes pay raises for public workers, increased social spending and more funds for research and development...’. Another site, El Confidencial, goes further, saying that the budgets for 2016 are ‘exclusively destined towards fooling a sufficient number of citizens on the lead-up to the General Elections so that the PP is not forced from office’.
‘The average Spanish salary fell slightly in 2014, continuing a downward trend that began in 2012, when the government introduced sweeping labour reforms. Spanish workers made a gross annual salary of €22,605 on average, representing a 0.2 percent contraction from 2013, according to figures released this week...’. Story at El País in English. The most common monthly wage, says 20 Minutos, is considerably less than this, at 600 to 900€ net.
With a huge number of cars on Spain’s 165,000 kms of roads during August (estimated at 43.2 million journeys), the subject of the condition of this country’s thoroughfares is in the limelight. According to Nueva Tribuna, the poor road conditions are costing an extra wear and tear to Spain’s fleet of vehicles of around 2,000 million euros.
Why not start up a small business, asks the Government kindly. In reality, with all the higher-than-anticipated costs, problems, misunderstandings and, above all, massive taxation, around 70% of all small business-people will fold within two years. More at El Diario.
The unemployment figures fell in July by 74,000 people, bringing the best figures since 2010 at 4,046,276 registered unemployed. As usual, most of the new jobs were temporary. Story at El Huff Post. In Andalucía, unemployment fell to under a million (!) to just 32% of the workforce. More here. The Financial Times is quoted by El Ventano as saying that ‘the price of recuperation in Spain is precarious labour contracts’. For example, says the British newspaper, almost one out of every four contracts signed in June, lasted for less than a single week.
A company “at leading edge of financialization” crashes, says Wolf Street on Wednesday. ‘Spain’s benchmark stock exchange, the Ibex-35, has been through the grinder the last couple of days, with some stocks falling like flies. The primary reason, besides the deteriorating global backdrop, is the huge volume of debt floating on or just below the surface of corporate balance sheets. Far and away the worst performer is Abengoa, a Seville-based multinational, specialized in renewable energy and “environmental services.” Just in the last two days, its share price has collapse nearly 50%...’.
Politics:
The latest CIS opinion poll gives the Partido Popular something of a boost, with 28.2% against PSOE at 24.9% and Podemos lagging at 15.7% - according to El Mundo. Some analysis at Reuters here.
‘Spain could become like Greece if the same austerity policies are imposed on the country, former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis said in an interview published Sunday. "Spaniards need to look at their own economic and social situation and based on that evaluate what their country needs, independently of what happens in Greece or wherever," he told centre-left daily El Pais...’. Story at The Local.
Corruption:
According to El País, two of the judges investigating the Gürtel Inquiry will now preside over the Bárcenas investigation. The judges López and Espejel are said to be ‘close to the Partido Popular’. El Mundo also covers the story here.
In the Púnica scandal, some big names in the Partido Popular are being flushed. Vozpópuli reports here.
‘Spain thinks its workers are not really as unemployed as they say. "Los revisores" are cracking down on black-market workers’: Headline from The Economist. ‘...The grey economy is estimated to make up between a fifth and a quarter of Spain's GDP...’.
‘Police have arrested 212 people for a €4 million Málaga-based fraud affecting over 7,000 victims. Posing as an accredited publicity firm, the telemarketers that worked there would coerce customers into giving them tax and bank information, to which they later made false charges...’. From The Olive Press.
Catalonia:
‘As the countdown begins to Catalonia’s plebiscite-style elections, scheduled for September 27, cracks are already beginning to show in Spain’s most important economic region (at least pound for pound). A few days ago, a study by Axesor showed that since the region’s pro-independence premier, Artur Mas, took office in 2011, 3,800 companies have upped sticks and left Catalonia for other regions of Spain. By contrast, just 2,547 companies have relocated from other regions to Catalonia during the same period...’. From Wolf Street.
More: ‘...The issue of Catalan independence is no longer one based on pragmatic realities; as tensions have festered, it has become an almost purely emotionally driven issue, not just in Catalonia but throughout Spain. Instead of a reasoned national debate, all that now exists is one almighty shouting match between diametrically opposed nationalists who refuse to listen to one another...’.
If Artur Mas can get 68 seats in these ‘plebiscitary elections’ , a majority of just one in the Catalonian Parliament, then the road to independence goes ahead, he says. The Catalonian leader says he anticipates a ‘dirty war’ in the approach to the elections on September 27th. El País looks at the situation here.
Various:
Together with all the different costs that seventeen autonomous regions might suppose, there is the added drain of regional public television. In Andalucía, La Radio y Televisión de Andalucía (RTVA), better known as Canal Sur, is haemorrhaging money, having lost 13,850,000€ in the first six months of 2015. The company took 56 million euros from the Junta de Andalucía in advertising. El Mundo has the story.
Spain’s military has ordered four ‘mega-drones’ for next year. These are pilotless aircraft which can remain in the air for over 24 hours at a time. The cost is 171 million euros. Story at El País.
From the far-left La República: ‘The Human Rights Committee of the UN reported on Thursday July 23 their views on the implementation of civil and political rights in Spain, Venezuela ... Contradicting the widespread opinion endlessly pumped out by almost all the Spanish media, the Human Rights Committee of the UN approved Venezuela, with some recommendations, while it ‘severely failed’ Spain in 26 different sections. The full report (en castellano) in pdf here.
Last week, we noted how crime has fallen in Spain. Here, we find that it hasn’t fallen equally. The safest (Badajoz) and least safe cities (Palma de Mallorca) in Spain, from OCU.
This past July was the hottest month in Spain, ever. See AEMET here. Ideal has more on Andalucía figures and records (Córdoba 45.2ºC on July 7th) here.
‘Once again and for the 11th year, the London Spanish Film Festival returns with a selection of some of the best recent films from Spain including feature films as well as documentaries and shorts. This year some of the feature films will be in competition...’. 24-30 September, more here.
‘10 facts you didn't know about Spanish wine. It was the Romans' favourite drink, a muse to Picasso and fell victim to the fascist regime of dicator Francisco Franco. Wine blogger Timmer Brown lifts the lid on everything you (probably) didn't know about Spanish vino’. Story at The Local here.
Regular stories and pictures at Business over Tapas on Facebook.
Apparently, 75% of Spaniards are uncomfortable about leaving their house without their mobile phone. 60% would admit that they couldn’t last a day without checking their phone – including 13.6% who will even check their device while driving... Ideal has more.
See Spain:
From the Ecotourism Magazine: ‘The Tierra de Campos district in the province of Valladolid in Spain has a singular beauty of its own, dominated by the contrasts and intensity of the colours. Tierra de Campos, the ancient Gothic Plains of the Visigoths (Campi Gothici or Campi Gothorum), makes up an evocative landscape of wide horizons which transmits peace and serenity to visitors to enjoy in a place where time has no importance...’.
Video: Cabo de Gata (Almería). Here.
Finally:
Pablo Iglesias interview on American TV (February 2015). Video in English.
Si (
No(
