Spain: The Best Country for Tourists in 2019

A veces perderse no es una perdida de tiempo

For the third year running, Spain claimed the top spot as the Best Country in the world to visit culled from the 2019 Travel and Tourism Competitive Report by the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Every two years, the WEF carry out an in-depth analysis of the travel and tourism sector of 136 countries ranks them and picks out the best country to travel. The index was compiled by measuring 90 individual indicators in each country, which fell into categories such as environmental sustainability, health, and hygiene, natural and cultural resources, and international openness.

 

Spain’s popularity is bolstered by a world-class ranking in natural and cultural resources from its vibrant cities to sunny beaches with Instagrammable hostels, and a diverse cultural program that spans medieval festivals to contemporary art. 

With major travel draws such as Barcelona and its La Sagrada Família basilica, Madrid and its famous Prado art museum and the Costa del Sol with warm, inviting beaches, it’s easy to see why Spain is the best country in the world.

 

Infrastructure is another important measure of a country’s travel competitiveness, and on these criteria Spain rates highly, having spent millions of euros in the past decade on updating roads, railways and airports.

France is the second best country to travel followed by Germany, Italy, and the United States rounded out the top five countries.

 

Being considered as the best country in the world has a price to pay. In Barcelona, the annual influx of visitors, 32 million versus the city’s 1.2 million residents, has caused a groundswell of anti-tourist sentiment among locals. Competition for accommodation has driven up real-estate prices and crowds have overwhelmed the city’s coastal areas, in some cases accelerating shore erosion.

The problem is that wherever large numbers of tourists go, difficulties soon follow. Take one of the favorite Asian destinations in Thailand popularized by the movie The Beach, which has now been forced to close indefinitely following extensive ecological damage to corals, seawater and plant life. Or Venice, a romantic spot to get a vacation girlfriend in tow, is planning to reroute cruise ships to other ports to avoid damage from overcrowding.

 

For these destinations and elsewhere, learning how to manage the flow of people is key. There are various ways to do this, such as encouraging visitors to come at off-peak times, consulting residents about tourism-related policy decisions, and charging visitors a fee for entry, as has started happening in Venice. On the other side of the world, New Zealand and the island of Palau even made the bold move of asking new arrivals to sign an eco-pledge in order to safeguard their embattled ecosystems.