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Beyond the beach: Spain pushes offbeat regions as tourist numbers nudge 100m

Spain is redoubling its efforts to push its tourist appeal beyond the familiar “sun and sand and coast” model as it prepares for another record-breaking year in which the number of foreign visitors could reach 100 million for the first time, the country’s tourism minister has said. Speaking to the Guardian, Jordi Hereu rejected suggestions that Spain was now saturated with tourists but said it had become clear that the “old formulas no longer work”, especially amid growing concerns about overtourism and the effects of the climate emergency. Hereu, the minister of industry and tourism, said the steady growth in tourist numbers – which could be further boosted this summer by uncertainty over Middle Eastern destinations after the US and Israel’s war on Iran – could be managed sustainably and responsibly. Last year, the number of foreign tourists rose by 3.2% to 96.8 million, while the value of their spending grew by 6.8% to hit €134bn (£116bn). Figures from the first quarter of this year show tourist numbers up by 3.4% and revenue up by 6.7%. “With that growth, we could reach 100 million,” Hereu said. “But I’d like to point out that that doesn’t worry us or obsess us … [We favour] what I call calm growth – in other words, growth that can be easily managed. And this year, despite what’s happening and the demand diversion effect, I think that in general, for the moment, our forecast is for moderate growth.” While tourism has long been a pillar of the Spanish economy, making up more than 12% of its GDP, its rapid and unchecked growth in many parts of the country over recent years has triggered protests and a furious backlash. Overtourism, not least the proliferation of tourist flats, has changed the face of entire neighbourhoods and cities, priced locals out of the housing market and increased pressure on public services and natural resources. Asked if the current rates of tourism were sustainable, Hereu said: “Yes, if we do our homework, and no if we don’t do anything.” The minister, a former mayor of Barcelona, praised his successor in that role, Jaume Collboni, a fellow socialist, for pushing ahead with a decision to ban tourist flats in the Catalan capital by 2028, but he said Spain’s highly decentralised nature made it hard for the central government to drive local change. He also contrasted the different approaches of leftwing and rightwing administrations. “I think there are places in Spain that are now seeing the effects of not regulating anything,” he said. “But I also want to be very clear, because this is also influenced by political stripes. The left is more in favour of regulating tourism than the right, because the right holds the view that we should allow freedom because the market will self-regulate, which isn’t true, and in many places it’s clear that it isn’t self-regulating.” Hereu said that while he believed anti-tourism feeling was “very much a minority thing” in Spain, it was becoming increasingly clear that a new approach was needed and that local and regional authorities needed to properly limit, regulate and tax their tourist offerings. “What I do believe is that in some places there’s a demand for better tourism in the sense of a better model,” he said. “But the culture I see throughout Spain is a culture of a country that knows how to welcome people. Our key principle is that we’re in favour of transforming the model to keep ahead and that we’re working humbly to transform that model because the old formulas no longer work.” Although he defended traditional beach tourism, which still makes up 37% of all visits, and said Spain had to be open to “all sectors” of the market, he noted that people were now seeking experiences beyond their sun loungers. “It’s very interesting to see in the qualitative surveys that people who come basically because ‘hey, I’m here to relax, sun and beach, etc,’ also start asking for add-ons – like ‘beach plus’,” Hereu said. “I think this is also a good trend, because what we need is to add value.” The minister said Spain’s socialist-led coalition government was committed to the socially, economically and environmentally sustainable principles set out in its 2030 tourism strategy. “One is decentralising destinations over time and we’re also working towards deseasonalisation,” he said. “The third, very clear principle is the diversification of our offering away from all those decades of sun and sand and coast, which is where the [Spanish tourist industry] was born, and which is still the dominant offering.” Although Spain has been pushing the summery charms of its eastern and southern coasts for decades, Hereu argues that the key to sustainable tourism lies in making it less seasonal, less beach-fixated and more geographically and culturally diverse. The country’s current advertising campaign, called Think You Know Spain? Think Again, swerves sun-kissed costas to focus instead on images of churches, paradores, orange groves, folk festivals, food, wine, lakes, green spaces, handicrafts and brown bears. It even features rain. “You don’t see any coastal beaches; instead, it’s inland Spain and the green Spain of the north,” he said. “So, it’s about decentralising and discovering other realities. And what’s happening? Low and mid season are growing much more than high season, and the inland, green Spain is growing much more than the majority segment.” Spain’s reliance on tourism was laid bare during the Covid pandemic. In 2020, international visitor numbers dropped by 77% to just 18.9 million. That led the government to invest €3.4bn of EU next generation funds in a plan to modernise and transform the sector. According to Hereu, that investment has allowed less visited areas of Spain – such as Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León, Extremadura, Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, the Basque Country and Navarre – to develop their tourist markets. “There’s a lot of potential there, and that’s where we need growth to happen,” he said. “Because, for example, on the Mediterranean coast, especially now, in the high season, there are limits.” The minister believes that diversifying and decentralising the tourist industry can help Spain tackle depopulation by ensuring that young people don’t have to leave their home towns in search of work elsewhere. Lengthening the season would also help to provide more stable employment, he added. “Before it was June, July, August and, at most, September,” he said. “But now people open in April, May or June, and we have more stability. October is also very important now, and the truth is, in some cases chains tell me they’re open almost all year round. This also gives us more job stability, and it’s obvious that salaries also have to increase, right? You have to attract people to the sector and retain them. And that’s good news because it also brings social stability and a redistribution of profits.” Hereu said the government was also seeking to help the industry adapt to the effects of the climate emergency, which are becoming ever more evident in Spain in the form of droughts, heatwaves, forest fires, floods and rising sea levels. He said renewable energy, efficient water use and good waste management could all help mitigate the consequences of the crisis. It was now abundantly clear, he added, that sticking to the old model would be a mistake. “We’d have the opposite of what we have now – we’d be growing the number of tourists rather than the spending value,” he said. “And [now] we are growing more in value than in number.”

‘A kind of massive rave’: Paris braces for 2m revellers as Fête de la Musique returns amid heatwave warnings

Paris is preparing for a street party of unprecedented scale on Sunday, as more than 2 million people are expected to gather for the Fête de la Musique amid a huge influx of music fans from the UK and warnings of record temperatures. France’s annual free street music festival, which has been running for more than 40 years, has grown into the country’s largest cultural event. What was previously a nationwide showcase for local and amateur talent – from village choirs to classical ensembles and techno acts in the capital – has evolved into a vast international open-air celebration. Last year, Paris welcomed a sudden and unexpected rush of music fans from the UK and other neighbouring countries after word spread on social media, creating an impromptu festival attended by about 2 million people. Lamia El Aaraje, Paris’s deputy mayor, said “calls to all of Europe’s youth to come and party” in the city had transformed the event into “a kind of massive rave”. She added: “Last year there was an impact on the public space, there were excesses, incidents, lots of sexual violence. We had a large clean-up issue afterwards so this year we wanted to mobilise ahead of time to secure the event.” After reports of sexual violence last year – including some women and men who reported being pricked with syringes – authorities have adopted a zero-tolerance approach. Special cordoned-off safe spaces for women and disabled people will operate in key locations, including near city hall and Bastille, staffed by specialist support teams trained to deal with sexual violence complaints. Paris city hall also warned international visitors about the dangers of canals and waterways. Last month, during celebrations after Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League final victory over Arsenal, two people died in the Seine. One had a cardiac arrest after jumping in the river, while another was later found dead. The city is also bracing for the practical consequences of hosting such vast crowds. Last year’s event generated so much litter that refuse teams needed two weeks to clear it. Thousands of additional bins and recycling points have been installed across Paris this weekend, while officials have urged visitors to use the city’s 600 round-the-clock public toilets rather than urinate in the street. About 1,400 water fountains will be available as Paris contends with heatwave conditions. Pierre Rabadan, the city hall official responsible for tourism and nightlife, said: “The DNA of Fête de la Musique is kindness and lots of people. It’s a party that is responsible, joyous, happy and cosmopolitan. That’s all we want in Paris.”

SUV buyers undeterred by warnings of risk to pedestrians, UK study finds

Drivers who are told about the safety risks posed by SUVs to cyclists and pedestrians are very unlikely to be deterred from buying one, a new study has found. The findings indicate that if governments want to reduce the number of large, dangerous vehicles on the roads, it is likely to require financial penalties, according to the psychologists at Swansea University who led the research. A series of studies have shown that sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and similarly oversized domestic vehicles such as pickup trucks are more dangerous than standard cars for pedestrians and cyclists. Much of the risk comes from their higher and blunter front ends. A meta-study of existing safety research earlier this year found that if an adult pedestrian was struck by an SUV, they were 44% more likely to be killed than if the vehicle was a smaller car. This rose to 82% higher for children. To test how much this affected people’s buying decisions, the study took a UK-wide sample of more than 2,000 people, including drivers and nondrivers, and split them randomly into two groups. Half of the sample was shown one of three mocked-up SUV adverts, which included a warning that the vehicle concerned posed a “significantly higher risk of fatality” to pedestrians and cyclists. The others were shown the same adverts, but without the safety warnings. Both groups were asked questions about their awareness of the risks from SUVs before and after viewing the adverts. Among those who saw the warnings, this rose from 35% awareness to 54%. But when the same people were asked if they intended to buy an SUV as their next car, the proportion who said they would fell only very slightly. Compared with the group who saw the standard adverts, they were only 3.7 percentage points less likely to make the same decision after they had seen the safety warnings. The overall effect, as the authors noted, was negligible: 95% of people who said they wanted to buy an SUV stuck with the decision, despite being told about the risks. It was almost as minimal even among the subset of the sample who said the safety of vulnerable road users was an important factor in what car they decided to buy. Of those, 86% stuck with their plans to buy an SUV. Prof Ian Walker, an environmental psychologist at Swansea University and one of the study’s authors, has closely studied the idea of what he called “motornormativity” – the way people judge car travel by different metrics to other areas of their life. He said: “Buying whatever vehicle we like, and driving it wherever and whenever we please without having to think about the consequences for other people, has become normalised and ingrained across our society over decades. “As such, it’s not surprising there’s a growing body of evidence that says asking or encouraging people to drive differently doesn’t work, and that stronger interventions will be needed if governments want to get serious about the issue. “This almost certainly includes having a more honest conversation about how driving, no matter how useful to the person doing it, imposes harms on to other people.” With SUVs now making up nearly 60% of new car sales across Europe, some places have started to respond to the difficulties they pose, which also include greater emissions due to their increased weight. Paris tripled parking charges for SUVs in 2024 after a vote by residents. Transport for London is considering whether to impose extra charges for SUVs in the UK capital, in part because of the greater risks they pose to others.

‘It’s a big mistake’: Israelis feel betrayed and angry after Iran peace deal

In the Tree brasserie off Herzl Street in Rehovot, there was much that almost everyone agreed on. Few contested that the ceasefire deal concluded by Iran and the US a few days earlier was very bad for Israel. “We were betrayed by President Trump,” said Avi Perez, 55. They believed, too, that Israel, more than ever, was surrounded by danger that it would have to confront alone. “It is strange. One day we were in the [bomb] shelters with our children … The next day, everything is supposed to be normal. But nothing has been resolved,” said Shaham Nowick, 35, as he studied the menu. Rehovot, 12 miles from Tel Aviv, has long been held up by pollsters as the epitome of “middle Israel”, if such a thing exists in such a diverse and divided country. Rows of Israeli and pride flags flew on major streets, loud rave music blasted on one street corner, Orthodox Jewish men gathered on another, and weekend traffic built up around construction sites for a new bus system. Some had come to the brasserie for a break from the news, which on Friday morning was dominated by headlines about renewed fighting in Lebanon, where Israeli forces had launched waves of airstrikes, killing 18 people and wounding 33, after Hezbollah, which has close links to Iran, had killed four Israeli soldiers, including a senior officer, in an attack on a tank. Many Israelis believe the deal negotiated by the US with Iran is a betrayal. Commentators have condemned the deal as a surrender and a humiliation that was “even worse than Israel had feared”. There widespread concern not only that will Iran be able to rebuild stronger than before the conflict, but also that the agreement imposed in Lebanon will restrict Israel’s ability to combat Hezbollah, which is seen as a major threat to the Israel’s north. “Israelis believe that the war in Lebanon is a just war,” said Udi Tenne, a political strategic adviser and international campaign manager in Israel. “Everyone living in Israel understands that Iran and Hezbollah are one and the same.” In Metulla, a northern town metres from Lebanon, there was anger. “Everyone was very pleased with the war [against Iran] but the US agreement is really not good for Israel … It’s a big mistake,” said Daniel Dorfmann, a restaurateur. Others spoke of the “abject failure” of Israel to achieve its war aims of regime change, the destruction of Iran’s nuclear programme and the elimination of its ballistic missiles. Worse, after starting the war “shoulder to shoulder” with the US, Israel had ended the conflict marginalised by Washington and dismissed as “a small power” by Donald Trump last week. Instead of being invited to the White House to advise Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu has received expletive-laden tirades and criticism over the civilian casualties caused by Israel’s relentless offensive in Lebanon, where more than 3,900 people have been killed. Nadav Eyal, a columnist in the daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, wrote: “The words ‘shock’ and ‘grief’ fail to describe the feeling in certain parts of the establishment in Israel. A lot of salt is being poured into their wounds now.” Netanyahu, who is 76 and on trial for corruption, now faces the difficult challenge of convincing voters that only he can keep Israelis safe. Prof Tamar Hermann, a specialist in public opinion at the Israel Democracy Institute, said: “Netanyahu showed a kind of hubris in defining his aims so clearly. When you fail to achieve them, you are thought of as incapable of fulfilling your promises.” Rehovot, where there are very few Palestinian citizens of Israel, is also a bellwether town for Jewish voters, who comprise three-quarters of the electorate in Israel. National polls are now expected in October. “The coming election will be a major turning point,” said one opposition party senior official last week. “It’s hard to exaggerate how important this will be for the country.” Faith in Netanyahu was deeply shaken, even among supporters, by the failures that led to the October 2023 attack by Hamas, in which 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and about 250 abducted. Israel’s relentless and bloody war in Gaza, which killed more than 73,000 people, mostly civilians, brought international isolation. Israel now controls 70% of Gaza but Hamas still rules over most of the 2.3 million population. Successive offensives in Lebanon against Hezbollah have proved inconclusive. Despite the backlash, there are some who remain loyal to Netanyahu. When undecided voters were asked last week who would best stand up to Iran, 43% said a Netanyahu-led coalition. At the brasserie, Perez, an engineer, said: “Netanyahu is human, so he makes some mistakes, but he knows how to fix things. He knows what Israel needs. He speaks for his country. Trump speaks for his businesses.” Such sentiments mean the coming election is likely to be closely fought. Netanyahu, a veteran of such struggles, may still outmanoeuvre all rivals, analysts say. Hermann said: “I think he is in trouble but I’m not sure what he might have up his sleeve. He is a political Houdini.” Lee Novick, 34, a doctor in Rehovot, said Israelis were more divided on many issues than ever before. “Netanyahu has been trying to divide us and it has worked. This has been going on for years. And in the meantime, no one cares about the basic stuff – house prices, for example, or inflation,” she said. “I believe Iran when it says it wants to destroy Israel. Why wouldn’t I? But this government is exploiting the war [to get] divisive laws through and just to stay in power.” Officials in opposition political parties also said Jewish Israelis were more divided than ever before. “Israelis are talking past each other. The common ground isn’t there,” one said. Harmann disagrees, however, and pointed out there had been other moments of extreme polarisation in recent decades, such as the 1990s. Instead, she said, most Jewish voters share more than divides them: a belief in an economically liberal model but a strong welfare state funded by progressive taxation, a tough line on security, Israel existing as a Jewish state and a belief that any two-state solution to the conflict with Palestinians is unrealistic. More immediately, most support the war in Lebanon and fiercely oppose laws giving Israel’s orthodox communities exemption from conscription. “All the talk of polarisation is possibly a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy,” Harmann said. In Rehovot, Dahlia Perez, 55, said last week’s events had taught her that “peace will never come”. “I was hoping for an end to wars but I think we are always going to have to live by our swords,” she said. “We understand now that we have no friends and we cannot trust anyone.”

‘You just gotta calm down’: Trump says he told Israel to agree ceasefire with Hezbollah – as it happened

Israel and Hezbollah agreed to renew their ceasefire at 4pm local time on Friday, multiple outlets reported, even as Israeli attacks across southern Lebanon and the Bekaa valley continued, killing at least 47 people and wounding 97 others. Despite the reported ceasefire, the IDF said it would “carry on with its mission [in southern Lebanon] until ordered otherwise”. Donald ⁠Trump told NBC News ⁠in a phone ⁠interview that he spoke with Israel ⁠on Friday and asked them to ⁠agree to the ‌ceasefire ‌with Hezbollah. “You just gotta calm down sometimes and use your head,” the US president ‌was quoted as telling Israel. The flare-up in fighting saw talks that were due to take place on Friday between the US ⁠and Iran in Switzerland to implement the peace deal abruptly cancelled. It has caused new uncertainty about the timing of negotiations during the 60-day window that began two days ago, vital ‌to ensure the reopening of the critical strait of Hormuz to global shipping and restoring peace in the region. Here’s our story. A “comprehensive” ceasefire is a “fundamental pillar” for advancing negotiations with Israel in Washington next week, Lebanon’s president, Joseph Aoun, told the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio. The next round ⁠of Israel-Lebanon talks will be ⁠held on 23–25 June ⁠in Washington, the US state ⁠department said on Friday. Trump will make a rare trip to Camp David this weekend, where he will hold policy and political meetings, a White House official told Reuters. It comes as the US president works to secure a final agreement to end his war against Iran and faces scrutiny ⁠over his provisional peace deal, which critics say grants Tehran too many concessions and fixes nothing for Trump other than problems his war caused. More on the trip here.

Macron calls for vigilance as western Europe faces second heatwave of year

More than half of France’s population is under a severe weather warning as large swathes of western Europe endure the second extreme heat event of the year, with temperatures expected to exceed 40C (104F). The French president called for “extreme vigilance”, urging people to “take care of our oldest and most vulnerable people” and follow government advice. “We are going through difficult days,” Emmanuel Macron said. A 30-year-old man died after going into cardiac arrest on an athletics track near Paris on Thursday as the temperature reached 37C. The rail operator SNCF cancelled 71 intercity trains, while schools rescheduled exams. Météo-France extended its ⁠orange heatwave alert to 60 of the country’s 96 mainland departments – home to about 41 million people – on Friday and Saturday, warning of a “widespread, prolonged and intense” heatwave. The national weather service said several more departments could be added over the weekend and that some alerts could be raised to red, the highest level. “In terms of duration and severity, this event could equal that of August 2003,” it said. The 2003 heatwave was France’s worst on record, with temperatures above 40C for nearly a fortnight. More than 14,800 people, most of them elderly care home residents, died, leading to a government heatwave planaimed at preventing a repeat. Although astronomical summer does not begin until Sunday, France is already experiencing its second extreme temperature event of 2026, after an unusually hot spell in May shattered local and national monthly temperature records. Météo-France said temperatures were likely to average 36C in the north-west and 39C in central and southern regions on Friday. After a slight dip on Saturday, they are forecast to rise to 40C in many regions, including Paris, early next week. With so much of the country affected, the agency said the national heat index, an average of day and night temperatures recorded at 30 weather stations nationwide, could approach a record high on Sunday and Monday. The power utility EDF has said four nuclear plants were likely to curb output next week because of unusually warm cooling water in the Rhône and Garonne rivers. Meanwhile, several municipalities have cancelled Sunday’s Fête de la Musique festivities. A spokesperson for Spain’s state meteorological office, Aemet, said temperatures would reach 40C as the country entered “an episode of persistently high temperatures likely to meet the technical threshold for a heatwave”. Rubén del Campo said it was likely to exceed 35C across the Iberian peninsular and Balearic Islands, climbing to 40C in southern areas – including the Tagus, Guadiana and Guadalquivir valleys, as well as in eastern Cantabria and the Ebro valley in the north. The heatwave could persist until Wednesday or Thursday, after which temperatures are expected to fall. However, it could remain “very hot” across much of the country, with overnight lows remaining above 25C in many areas. Temperatures in south-west Germany are forecast to rise to 36C by the weekend, prompting authorities to issue heat warnings even at altitudes of 600 metres (2,000ft). The DWD weather service also forecast heavy thunderstorms and downpours. The agency advised people to avoid strenuous physical activity where possible, regardless of fitness level, and urged non-swimmers to take extra care after a series of drownings during hot spells. A hitzefrei (heat-free) day was declared for Friday, with lessons cut short and pupils sent home early as school buildings became uncomfortably hot.

The real reason a hantavirus disaster was averted | Letters

Devi Sridhar writes about some of the global public health responses to the outbreak of hantavirus centred on the MV Hondius, but her conclusions as to how the world avoided another global outbreak failed to recognise the real reason disaster was averted (Right now, we could be living through a hantavirus disaster. The world avoided that, and this is why, 15 June). The UK Overseas Territories (UKOTs) programme funded by the Foreign Office and managed by the UK Health Security Agency supports health services in all UKOTs around the globe. These are small and vulnerable communities with very limited medical services in most cases. The key success of this lean but effective programme lies in close communication and strengthening the health services. The astute doctor on Ascension Island recognised a cluster of cases on the MV Hondius when a sick passenger was brought ashore for treatment. Newly developed diagnostic equipment on the island was able to exclude common causes. We knew we were dealing with something unusual. Possible causes were reviewed during a meeting across continents between Ascension, the UKOT programme infection doctor, the ship company medical adviser and a colleague in the National Institute for Communicable Diseases in South Africa, who tracked down samples from two cases medevaced to South Africa. The diagnosis of hantavirus was made. It was this that alerted the World Health Organization and national public health organisations, and averted disaster. Without this, the ship would have sailed on to Cape Verde. Passengers incubating hantavirus would have disembarked and travelled to their home countries. The outbreak would have been much wider. Dr Matthew Dryden Consultant in infection, UKOTs programme, UKHSA • The good fortune that was with the hantavirus cruise ship, discussed in the excellent article by Devi Sridhar, doesn’t necessarily apply to those in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or neighbouring countries, like the Batwa pygmies, a highly vulnerable, marginalised and endangered group of people in Uganda currently fighting the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus, a rare variant for which there is currently no approved vaccine or specific treatment. Until all people throughout the world have equal access to public health measures against novel infectious diseases, we will all be vulnerable to the next unexpected product of a world stressed by inequality and a privileged elite. Dr Brian Jones Yarcombe, Devon • Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.