Mr. Minister for Industry, Energy and Tourism, Mr. President of the Regional Government of the Balearic Islands, Mr. Secretary of the World Tourism Organisation, Tourism Ministers from China, Egypt and Mexico, Mr. outgoing President of EXCELTUR, Mr. incoming President of EXCELTUR, Mr. Chairman of the FITUR Organising Committee, business leaders, speakers, guests, ladies and gentlemen,
It is no coincidence that one of my first acts as President of the Government is to stand before you here today. As FITUR transforms Madrid into the international capital of tourism this week (we could expect no less from a country as important as Spain in terms of tourism), I am greatly honoured by the opportunity to meet you here, both from a personal perspective and with regard to the firm commitment from my Government to promoting and supporting this powerful driving force behind the Spanish economy.
For ten years, the EXCELTUR Tourism Leadership Forum (now in its sixth year with co-sponsorship by the World Tourism Organisation) has consolidated itself as one of the top events on the world tourism industry calendar. Anything less just wouldn't be right. This meeting gathers an important number of high-level public officials from the tourism sector, as well as top executives from leading companies in a sector that takes the "Spain" brand to all five continents.
All of you share a common dedication to the excellence that lends its name and meaning to EXCELTUR and that gives meaning to a public policy that is firmly focused on making the promotion of tourism a truly national commitment.
I am very well informed of the competitiveness challenges facing our leading export industry, which, as we have heard here today, contributes more than 10 per cent of our economic activity and employs more than 12 per cent of our active population. The Minister for Industry, Tourism and Trade, José Manuel Soria, has equally detailed knowledge of those challenges and requirements that to a great extent typify the strategic challenges being faced by the Spanish economy as a whole. This is a logical situation to be in as the tourism sector is the vanguard, the standard bearer and ambassador of our economy.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Tourism not only makes an extraordinary contribution to national GDP and provides an important surplus under the heading of "Tourism and travel" in the balance of payments. Tourism does indeed mean the generation of wealth and the creation of jobs, but it also means leisure, entrepreneurial spirit, transfer of knowledge and hospitality.
On countless occasions, our tourism offer is seen as a model of quality, internationalisation and cutting-edge innovation. However, there is an underlying and fertile tradition in all that, a universality of values and a promotion of one of the most extraordinary cultural and linguistic heritages in the world, which the Spanish nation proudly shares with the rest of Humanity.
Whether it be the unique landscape of our coastal areas, the artistic and architectural gems to be found in our towns and cities or the professionalism of a receptionist at a Spanish hotel chain anywhere in the world, we have a tourism culture that leaves a permanent mark on visitors and clients both within and beyond the borders of our country. That, above all else, is our grand loyalty strategy.
Ladies and gentlemen,
In the absence of complete data from the close of last year, we can announce that 2011 was a highly positive year for the tourism sector. Close to 57 million tourists from all over the world chose Spain as their holiday destination in 2011. Our guests, as that is how we view them, spent almost 53 billion euros during their time with us. Both these figures represent a growth rate of 8.1 per cent on the previous year.
As Sebastián Escarrer just explained, estimates from EXCELTUR put growth in tourism activity in 2011 at 2.6 per cent, a rate of growth that practically quadruples the weak growth of the Spanish economy as a whole last year and that shines as a beacon of hope in the dark tunnel of economic crisis that our country is crawling through.
It is true to say that this performance has been achieved in spite of the weakness demonstrated in tourism consumption by Spanish families and owes a part of its extraordinary strength to what in tourism jargon is referred to as "imported demand" from certain competitor countries around the Mediterranean. A number of representatives from those neighbouring countries are present here today. To all of them, I sincerely wish for the democratic processes taking place at the moment to re-establish their full attractiveness in the near future as tourism destinations of unbeatable magnetism and quality.
For our part, we will continue competing with the best strengths of a sector now being called upon to play a crucial role in the recovery of our economy and the creation of jobs in our country.
We have already begun working on that. We have a tough year ahead, that cannot be denied, but the first steps on any path to great change are always the hardest.
The current situation in our economy, our starting point, is the direct consequence of imbalances and deficiencies accumulated over the course of many years. The oversized foreign deficit, the relative loss of competitiveness, the high rate of indebtedness of households and businesses and the public debt spiral of recent years have hampered our capacity to grow and have generated doubts regarding our success in the Monetary Union. But the most serious consequence of all is the unacceptable drama in which more than five million Spaniards who want to work simply cannot find a job.
These structural deficiencies I have just referred to are worsened by the restriction on credit to our small- and medium-sized enterprises, entrepreneurs, self-employed professionals and families. I will refer to the restructuring process of the financial system we are going to undertake in a moment, but first I will say that credit cannot be monopolised by the public sector but must rather be aimed at entrepreneurs and at the small- and medium-sized enterprises that are the nucleus of our production fabric. This is absolutely essential.
Allow me to give you a revealing example: in the last year, 76.4 billion euros were spent on financing the public administration services - almost the same amount by which credit to businesses and families has contracted (43 billion euros and 24.2 billion euros, respectively). In other words, things are upside down.
Ladies and gentlemen,
In order to put an end to this situation, and to do so in perfect compliance with our commitments to Europe, we need to reduce our public deficit and thus free up resources that can then be used to foster consumption, investment and job creation.
Spain will have closed 2011 with a public deficit of close to 8 per cent, a figure that is far higher than the 6 per cent target and something unexpected for the incoming Government. Put another way, the Public Administration Services spent close to 90 billion euros (15 trillion of our old pesetas) more than they received last year. Given that we are convinced we will only exit the crisis if we manage to correct the imbalances and generate confidence, the sudden revelation of this hidden deficit led us to take decisive action and adopt a series of essential measures aimed at safeguarding the credibility of our country and guaranteeing our solvency to the investors who are financing our economy.
That is what we did. We approved a balanced package of measures worth fifteen billion euros with which we have launched a strong plan of fiscal consolidation that must continue into the future.
There is no alternative. I must stress at this point that the most significant part of these measures refers to expenditure savings of almost nine billion euros. That is not easy to do in only five days.
We are thus setting off down a path to a rebalancing of the public accounts that, I insist, will continue with the approval of the 2012 General State Budget before 31 March. I want to make one thing absolutely clear: the Public Administration Services are going to tighten their belt, just as Spanish families and businesses have already done, but which will not be detrimental whatsoever to the fundamental public services they provide.
In terms of revenue, we have also asked for an exceptional effort (but also an equal and temporary one) from the public that is based on their level of income. This effort is greater when looking at capital revenue than it is when looking at income from work because that is how we are distributing the cost of this crisis under criteria of progressivity.
I want you to know that there is good reasoning behind these efforts, efforts that are worth the sacrifice and not being called for just for the sake of it. We have tried to be fair, we have tried not to ask anyone for anything they are unable to give and, for that reason, the only item in the Budget that will be increased is that of the pension reassessment.
Our exit from the crisis will require efforts, let there be no question about that. But we will try to emerge without losing our innate condition of a fair society, with efforts that lead us along the most direct path to recovery. Not facing up to this situation can only lead to postponing things indefinitely, as we have seen in recent years.
So, that was our immediate reaction to the situation. However, the objectives of our economic policy are much more ambitious: to return confidence and credibility to the Spanish economy, to grow and to create jobs. We must increase the competitiveness and flexibility of the economy, as well as its potential for growth. To that end, we have set a busy calendar of reforms - probably the most ambitious to be seen in Spain in many years.
The first three months of 2012 will be key, as the financial sector reform and the labour market reform will both be developed in this period and we will also approve the Budgetary Stability Act aimed at developing the constitutional reform of last year.
The plan of reform for the financial sector will be focused on cleaning up the balance sheets, without turning to public resources, and I expect there will be another wave of bank restructures from which a smaller number of entities will emerge. However, those that do so will be sufficiently sound and solvent. Transparency, reorganisation, concentration and solvency will be the pillars of this action.
For its part, the labour reform will lay the foundations for a more efficient labour market. The result of the reform must be a labour market in which salary renegotiation takes place in accordance with the trends in economic activity and the situation that companies find themselves in, and in which labour conditions are negotiated within an optimum regional or sectoral context so as to ensure economic competitiveness and employment sustainability.
This reform will suitably guarantee workers' rights and will enable us to take advantage of the significant room for improvement that exists in terms of our active employment policies, especially with regard to training.
On this last point, and although everybody knows this already, I would like to say that training is not the exclusive responsibility of the Government and that everybody - and when I say everybody, I mean the trade unions and business organisations as well - will have to contribute something from their camp. The Government will assume its responsibility but the Government, as you all understand, cannot do everything.
So, besides the far-reaching reforms we are implementing in the financial sector and in the labour market, we will also be looking at increasing the flexibility of the goods and services markets, as well as the energy sector, so that our public policies may contribute to helping reduce business costs and making our economy more competitive.
Dear friends,
I am sure that everyone is also aware, but it does no harm to say it out loud, that none of these reforms will have an effect in 24 hours, or even 48. We are going through a very tough time but one from which, have no doubt about it, we will survive if we do things properly. But the good times will not come first. We will survive, but we will have to wait. The Government has set targets, has put us on a path and will have the determination and courage to make the appropriate decisions.
I am absolutely convinced that these and other reforms will lead to benefits for the tourism sector. But I am also convinced of the need to provide support to our leading economic sectors. As I have already said, tourism plays a fundamental role in these leading sectors.
The tourism industry has not been unaffected by the profound changes taking place in our society, where new trends are changing the way we travel and view tourism. It is also a sector that covers much more than the activities of catering, accommodation or intermediation services and that has significant knock-on effects that stimulate other economic activities, with an immediate impact on the growth of those activities.
In the coming months, the Government will present a Comprehensive Tourism Plan that will recognise the priority nature of this sector. The Plan will contain measures involving every aspect of the tourism industry but will fundamentally address a series of issues that seem key to us.
One of those issues is the creation of a favourable environment for the creation and development of tourism companies. This basically means the standardisation and simplification of tourism regulations and the elimination of administrative burdens.
Our tourism quality and competitive edge also depend on our capacity to coordinate cross-cutting policies that involve all the ministries and public authorities, and to ensure they duly serve tourism policy. I am, of course, referring to transport policies, telecommunications policies, citizen security policies, environmental protection policies and a long list of others.
I would like to remind you that the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Environment, Miguel Arias Cañete, announced his intention to undertake a reform of the Coastal Act last week, which will be fully compatible with economic growth, the creation of jobs and helping us exit the economic crisis without affecting environmental protection.
We have considered the creation of a State Secretariat of Tourism because it will contribute to ministerial coordination, as well as coordination with the autonomous regions and will enhance contact with the private sector both domestically and abroad.
At this point, it is also worth mentioning the work undertaken by the Inter-ministerial Tourism Conference and the importance of developing it further, something that has been called for here.
I will now summarise the main lines of action that will form the backbone of the tourism policy to be implemented by this Government:
Firstly, a commitment to innovation. The capacity to innovate protects us from adverse situations arising from changes in the economic cycle by offsetting falls in demand. It also enables tourism revenue to be increased by increasing the average spending by each tourist and thus helping to improve our export position.
Secondly, decisive support for entrepreneurs and especially the youngest entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs such as yourselves are the creators of ideas, new businesses, investment, growth and, at the end of the day, jobs. We are therefore counting on your dynamic nature and imagination to propose an adapted and diversified tourism offer that takes advantage of our cultural and geographic diversity and enables us to offer new products of the highest quality in various sectors.
Thirdly, we will pay particular attention to more mature tourist destinations by strengthening their capacity to adapt to the newest demands in terms of tourism loyalty and new tourist profiles.
Fourthly, I am aware that there is still room for improvement in certain areas, especially with regard to the excessive seasonalisation of tourism demand. For that reason, we need to help take more efficient advantage of basic service infrastructures, streamlining their use, as well as of the accommodation and transport offer.
Fifthly, we will encourage differentiation of new tourism products. Not only do we want to be the best but we also want to be unique.
To that end, we will encourage improvements in the quality of services associated with all tourism activities.
Sixthly, we will closely monitor the regional policies that have an impact on the tourism sector, such as those related to air traffic or taxation, among others. This measure is aimed at promoting the presence of Spanish tourism companies abroad and at taking action within a framework of equal competition with other Mediterranean destinations.
Finally, we will intensify the international presence of the Spanish tourism sector by promoting the image of Spain as a quality tourism destination through measures aimed at modernising and improving the network of Spanish Tourist Offices abroad.
Ladies and gentlemen, and dear friends,
Achieving these ambitious objectives will require a far-reaching transformation and modernisation of the Spanish tourism sector, but that will only be possible if all the stakeholders involved participate, especially the business leaders, trade unions and institutions here today.
I have no doubt in my mind that this common project will help us emerge stronger from the current economic situation. In this sector, as in all other sectors of the Spanish economy, we need everyone to make an effort because those at the centre of any economic success story are the people who work and innovate in business every day.
A Government can improve the conditions needed to achieve that success but the economy is a child of us all and requires daily attention. The challenge we now face is a large one but today, as always, I am convinced that Spanish society will do the best it can to overcome its current difficulties. The process has already begun.
Many thanks to you all and good luck.