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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Spain attracted a record number of tourists last year as it competed to steal France’s title as the world’s top tourist destination — but the surge in visitors is provoking angry outbreaks of “tourism-phobia”.
The Iberian country registered a 13mn surge in 2023 that lifted its number of international visitors to a new high of more than 85mn — nearly double its population — according to a ranking from the UN’s tourism agency on Wednesday.
Spain overtook the US to become the world’s second-most-visited country in 2017 and has since been trying to close the gap with France. The French government touts its position as “the world’s leading tourist destination” and its arrivals rose by 7mn to 100mn last year.
Spain’s boom is an economic fillip for the country where tourism accounts for 12-13 per cent of GDP, but it is also a headache for the…