The most competitive Spanish cities

84.5% of all tourist activity in Spain are concentrated in only 22 cities. At the same time, as shown by the study of the local Association of large tourist companies (Exceltur), there are clear leaders among these cities. During the research of the tourism sector, it was established that the main tourist centers in the country are Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia.

The leader position is taken by Barcelona, the analysis was conducted according to six main indicators, and the capital of Catalonia received four of six.

Madrid excels Barcelona only in two respects: the attractiveness of business investment and accessibility. Other indicators include: entertainment and leisure, lifestyle, government and strategic management, tourism.

Compared with the analysis conducted by the Exceltur association in 2012, the list of leading cities has not changed – the most competitive cities have been holding the lead from previous years. The only thing that has changed is that in the previous study 20 Spanish cities participated, in the new – 22 cities. In the list were included: Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Palma, Murcia and Valladolid, and Toledo and Oviedo left the ratings.

Malaga and San Sebastian have significantly improved their position in the ranking. Now they have the fourth and fifth place in the list – a much better position than four years ago.

Urbantur 2016 – monitor the competitiveness of tourist destinations, notes the loss of priority in the field of politics in favor of the tourism sector over the past four years. Analysts also noticed an increase in the flow of investmentin the tourism sector of Spain. Thanks to the development of this sphere, the tourist flow, in particular, by 7.2% in the family tourism sector, also grows. In 2012 number of tourist was lower than now, there is 15% of difference.

In the country it is still possible to purchase profitable objects that are becoming more attractive from the investment point of view: the profitability of the objects for leasing has increased to 5.7% per annum in March-2017.