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MADRID, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Spain's tourist sector expects the best summer in history according to a story published on Thursday by Spain's economics newspaper Expansion.
"The third quarter in 2016 will be the best summer in history," the newspaper stated citing sources from Exceltur, the association that encompasses big companies of the sector in Spain.
According to it, instability in countries such as Tunisia, Egypt and Turkey is forcing more tourists to choose Spain as a destination and in the second quarter of the year the country received 2.2 million international tourists more than in the same period of a year earlier.
The vice-president at Exceltur, Jose Luis Zoreda, emphasized the importance of the tourist sector for the country's gross domestic product (GDP), pointing out that tourist GDP will have risen by 4.4 percent by the end of this year, 1 percent more than the figure the Ministry of Economy had predicted.
Employment will rise by 8 percent in the areas of the coast, such as the Archipelagos of the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands, the Community of Valencia and Andalusia, Exceltur said, while urban hotels are seeing rises of 71 percent in purchases in the second quarter and the number of bookings in travel agencies rose by 47 percent between April and June.
Spain expects to receive around 72 million international tourists this year, breaking a new record high, a figure that would reaffirm Spain as the third most important destination. Enditem
