The Universidad Europea de Canarias, together with the Universidad Europea de Lisboa, has taken part in the 1st International Study of Rural Tourism in Spain conducted by TopRural, the leading search engine for rural accommodation in Spain. The study was presented in Madrid on October 19, and it was the pioneering study in Spain for analyzing rural tourism figures, focusing on analyzing and comparing leisure tourism and rural tourism in the domestic market and among its main source tourism markets.
.Cristiana Oliveira, rectora @UECanarias: "El turista internacional busca integrarse en la esencia de cada destino." https://t.co/m5g2uuoYMN pic.twitter.com/hxdC5uE0y3
— UE Comunicación (@UEprensa) 24 de octubre de 2016
The report was drafted using data from German, British and French tourists, observing that 7% of all foreign tourists chose Spain for rural tourism in 2016. The most popular autonomous communities were Andalusia, Catalonia, Canary Islands, Balearic Islands, Madrid and Valencia. “Spain has yet to reach its potential due to lack of knowledge among international travelers. We must work better to promote rural tourism”, said the general manager for Southern Europe at Toprural, Juan Carlos Fernández.
“Rural tourism has great potential for growth in Spain. The study proves that it is a real alternative for combating the seasonal nature of the sector”, said Cristiana Oliveira, rector at the Universidad Europea de Canarias. She also stressed that “Madrid has been a surprise because it breaks the trend of recent studies; it is very positive because it is no longer an exclusive short-stay destination to position itself as a rural alternative, with a significant market share”. The study was co-directed by Antonia Correia, dean of the European University of Lisbon School of Tourism, which is one of the TOP 100 tourism research institutes.