World Of Tourism

That's how it appears, at any rate. The Spanish political agenda Friday was dominated by debate on legislation about chewing gum, all this whilst the Euro is going through what might be politely termed a 'crisis', Spain's own stockmarket is 'bombing' and in the wider world there has been a dramatic heightening of tensions in the Korean peninsula.It's all a question of priorities, I suppose - or

Barcelona-based Catalan-British economist Edward Hugh reproduces in his Bonobo Land blog the English text of his La Vanguardia interview (in Spanish) with Paul Krugman, Nobel Economics prize-winner and holder of Professorial posts at both Princeton and the LSE. The interview is wider-ranging than Spain, but does give a pretty clear exposition of where the country now finds itself. It's well-worth

Holy Week in Spain is reaching its climax, what with Easter here in a few short days. History is being made, not because of Easter (that happens every year), but because today is historically the busiest day on Spanish roads. Traffic is at its peak, a phenomenon usually blamed on holiday makers but other speculation has pointed to the Easter Bunny himself.

Rumours are that the Easter Bunny has expanded his distribution and chocolate eggs have to be delivered! Carlito and his Chocolate Factory have been working overtime to make sure that Spanish children don't have to hunt too hard to ensure that the recession doesn't steal Easter too.

Golden handshakes, geese eggs and silver spoons aside...it seems that even if you weren't born with it - you can fake it. Also making Spanish news is a 22 year old Italian man (known only as DJ at this stage) has been caught in the business of money laundering. 2.8 million counterfeit euros were found in the man's pocession after police searched his vehicle in Barcelona. Looks like this DJ might, in fact, be putting another record on...criminal record that is.

So now the real question is...with the euro recently taking center stage as the worlds strongest economy, doesn't 2.8 million fake euros mean anything in pounds? Time will tell I suppose but either way, the countdown to Easter is finally here. Celebrations are imminent and for many Christians, this is one of the most holy holidays of the religious year.

So if you're on the road, make sure you have Tourism Radio with you and a secret stash of chocolate in case of emergencies. From all of us at Tourism Radio...be safe on the roads, try the churros and chocolate breakfast and Happy Easter!

(And remember - if a handsome Italian man approaches you telling tales of great wealth...make him show you an ATM receipt before he buys you a drink. )

Reports in the weekend papers predict that tourism is suffering in Spain because of the fall of the pound against the euro. The recession seems to be taking on a snowball effect in the UK and its expected to negatively impact British tourism by 25%.

Spain expects to see a half a million tourists less this year in the Costa Blanca area alone. Numbers like that have devastating effects of small tourists towns that rely mostly on a regular influx of tourists.

The exchange rate may vary but one constant remains...people still want to go on holiday. The recession has directed a number of prospective holiday makers to seek out cheaper alternatives and tailor make their holidays to perfectly suit their needs, minus the excess costs.

Hotels are hopeful, airlines are dropping their fares to remain competitive but...competition is tight. Tourism Radio focuses on giving self drive tourists the freedom to travel the way they want to and still experience the country as if their was a local sitting in the car with them telling them about the area they're in and about the landmarks and highlights as their car approaches them. It seems to be the most viable option seeing as though the drive from Britain to Spain is easy and accessible.

One thing is certain...the recession will bring about change. Changes in the way people travel, what destinations are deemed popular and what experiences tourists can now afford. The good news is that with Tourism Radio, a change is still as good as a holiday.

Yesterday's shock news is that one of the major ratings agencies, S&P, is contemplating (FT article) a revision downward of Spain's sovereign debt ratings; the immediate result in the markets was a widening in the spread between Spain's 10 year government bonds and those of Germany to its widest level since the launch of the Euro in 1999. This followed on from last week's warning that S&P was

A gang of smugglers, thought to have been active for around 4 years and during which they are thought to have smuggled in excess of 30 million counterfeit Euro banknotes (mainly 20 and 50 Euro denominations), has been broken, with seven arrests made recently (5 in Lugo and 2 in Coruna). Other arrests, upto 20, have been made elsewhere including in Alicante, Murcia and Malaga.The counterfeit

Slovakia will become the 16th of the current 27 members of the European Union to adopt the Euro as its currency on 1 January 2009. The fixed conversion rate between the Euro (EUR) and the existing Slovak national currency (SKK) is €1 = 30.1260 SKK.The 15 EU countries currently using the Euro as their currency are: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy,

The turmoil in the world's financial markets is now (as we heard over the past weekend) beginning to affect Europe severely too, resulting in the Euro falling against the dollar and, incidentally, against the pound - my latest information shows a pound to be worth roughly 1.29 euros, as against 1.23 about a week ago. I won't be cheering too loudly though - who knows what any of these bits of

EU finance ministries have unanimously approved the adoption of the Euro by Slovakia as its currency from 1 Janaury 2009 at the irrevocable fixed conversion rate of 30.126 Slovak Korunas for 1 Euro. See also the BBC report here.From January 2009 therefore, sixteen countries will have the Euro as their common currency: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy,

Two of the recent (2004) intake into the European Union, Cyprus and Malta, have adopted the Euro as their currency from midnight last night, taking the currency union from 13 to 15 of the 27 EU members. The fixed converion rates to the new currency are €1.71 for 1 Cyprus Pound, whereas a Maltese Lira is fixed at €2.34 . The Cypriot Euro coins will be inscribed in both Greek and Turkish and the