Tourism on the rise in city of Tarragona

There is much more to Catalonia than Barcelona. Tourism is on the rise in Tarragona, in the south of the country. It closed 2017 with a record number of tourists visiting the city: more than 2 million, an increase of 11% compared to 2016. The number of visitors spending the night in the city also rose, breaking the barrier of 500,000, to 1.4 million.

Local tourism councillor, Inma Rodríguez, expressed her satisfaction with the figures, as well as demonstrating optimism for this year. “We are not looking for record numbers,” she said, “ but maintaining sustained growth is very important, as it helps position the city as a quality tourist destination.”

Both hotels and campsites saw an improvement in their occupation during the year. The main tourist market of the city was Spanish, followed by French, British, and German.

Foreign investment

Hard Rock International will invest around €2 billion in the leisure and gambling park in the Tarragona region on the southern Catalonian coast, which is expected to create 11,500 jobs both directly and indirectly  in its first stage, the company announced last year.

The American firm plans to build the complex in multiple phases, the first of which will include a casino with 1,200 slot machines and 100 table games, as well as a family-oriented hotel developed by the amusement park PortAventura that will have a total capacity of 500 rooms. This stage will also feature 75 luxury shops developed by Value Retail. Around 2,176 direct jobs are expected to be created – a number which increases to 11,500 when adding indirect jobs– and €600 million will be invested in the first phase, according to estimates by Hard Rock, with an impact to the region of more than €1.3 billion.