Overview
The main products – and source of revenues - in the Blue tourism sector in Spain are coastal tourism followed by cruising.
With over 5,000 km of coastlines (including Balearic and Canary islands), Spain is one of the most attractive destination for “sun and beach” tourism and nautical sports. This industry has been driving revenues also in the complementary sectors of hospitality and housing, with families and retired couples form northern and central Europe – primarily Germany and the UK - owning lots of apartments mainly in Costa Brava, Costa de la Luz and Costa del Sol.
In the cruising sector Spain ranks as the second country of destination (port of calls) all over Europe, with leading ports Barcelona and Valencia. In 2011 the port of Barcelona accounted as the leading cruise port in Europe and the Mediterranean by total number of passengers (2.657).
In many Spanish regions blue tourism and especially coastal tourism is the key employment generating sector