The number of tourists visiting Spain in July fell for the first time in nine years.
The decline puts an end to five years of record growth.
Tourism accounts for 11 percent of Spain's gross domestic product (GDP) and last year the number of foreign visitors rose to 82 million.
But in July this year there was a decline of 4.9 percent compared to last year and for the first seven months of the year Spanish tourism has only increased by 0.3 percent. This can be compared to double-digit percentage growth in both 2016 and 2017.
An important explanation is a boost for tourism to competing countries such as Turkey, Tunisia and Egypt.
Tourism in Tunisia and Egypt, measured in terms of the number of foreign visitors, rose by around 40 percent during the first half of the year, while the increase for Turkey was around 30 percent.
Source: TT
