While knowing the marketplace is one aspect of successful letting, understanding the mobility of people within that market is another more complicated social issue. Underlined already are the two principal reasons for going to or living in Spain, which are the excellent climate and lower cost of living. But there are other issues!

Northern Europeans move to Spain to work, rest or play. Or to put it another way, they go on holiday, they are Spain’s new residents (permanent, temporary, declared, undeclared, full-time or part-time) or they go for employment purposes.

Spaniards too move for work, rest and play but in different proportions to their northern neighbours. Understanding these issues plays an important part in determining a tenant market. People on the move are letting opportunities. They all need a roof over their heads, albeit a temporary one.

Going On Holiday From Northern Europe

Most Europeans obtain direct experience of foreign countries from tourism. Since the 1960s, there has been remarkable growth in foreign holidays. This has been fuelled by reductions in real prices and the increased understanding of foreign holidays as ‘positional goods’. The two dominant nationalities of European holiday-makers come from the UK and Germany. In 1965 the number of British people going abroad was 5 million: the number increased by 140% by 1980 and doubled again by 1995.

Equally impressive are the statistics for the proportion of the UK population taking a holiday abroad – 13% in 1971 and 35% in 1995. Well over half the British population has taken a foreign vacation at some time. Those who holiday abroad tend to be younger, more prosperous and of higher socio-economic status than those who holiday in Britain. The growth in international tourism from Germany has been even more rapid. Whereas only 5.8 million went abroad in 1962, this rose to 18.3 million in 1985 and to 40.7 million in 1995 (partly boosted by reunification).

Not all holidaying is by mass tourists. There are many types of tourists seeking a different experience from their travels. Tourists seek both novelty and familiarity. There are four types:

• The organized mass tourist, who takes an inclusive holiday which offers protection within an environmental bubble. Familiarity dominates over novelty.
• The individual mass tourist who is more autonomous and follows a flexible itinerary. Familiarity dominates but some novelty is sought.
• The explorer investigates new areas and tries to get off the beaten track. Novelty is sought but if it becomes stressful, this tourist will retreat into the familiarity of the environmental bubble.
• The back to nature drifter, who avoids any kind of commercial tourism establishment, seeks contact with native culture and tries to live the same way as locals.

One other relevant feature has been the growth of winter sun holidays. Some 12 million British holiday visits are made between October and March each year to various overseas locations. In general, overseas winter holidays have been expanding at about twice the rate of summer sun holidays.

Older people constitute an important element of this market, with 23% aged 55 and over. There have also been other changes in the Mediterranean tourism market, notably an increase in self-catering that can sometimes be the first step towards later retirement. The experience of renting a villa or apartment may lead to the purchase of a holiday home with some of these later used for retirement.

The traditional Spanish package holiday, still enjoyed by many, consists of sand, sea and sun. Holiday reps efficiently escort people from the airport to a three or four star hotel with half board accommodation, offer trips and sort out any problems. The tourists stay in their selfimposed environmental bubble. This type of holiday will always be the core of Spain’s tourist industry but it has now peaked. It has spawned a massive expenditure to keep its visitors happy and to encourage them to visit again and again.

The Spanish holiday market is now segmented: firstly into different types of accommodation such as hotels, timeshares, rented properties and holiday homes; secondly into the traditional family holiday; thirdly into special interest groups looking for cultural, rural, walking, sporting or adventure holidays and fourthly to encourage tourists away from the Costa’s to rural inland areas. To do this the Spanish Tourist Board has developed a number of concepts which can be seen in national newspaper and TV advertising and in promotional literature:

• Traditional sun, sea and sand.
• Espana Verde (Green Spain) covering the northern regions of the country embracing Asturias, Galicia, Cantabria and Pais Vasco.
• The Gold and Silver routes that are old Roman roads through the Spanish heartland.
• There are over 700 Heritage of Mankind sites worldwide declared by UNESCO. Spain has just eight Spanish cities recognised for their artistic and cultural legacy. They are Avila, Caceres, Cordoba, Cuenca, Salamanca, Santiago de Compostela, Segovia and Toledo. They are not major cultural cities such as Granada, but smaller, more rural cities each with a wealth of history and culture, a variety of customs and delicious cuisine.
• Short city breaks are promoted to Alicante, Barcelona, Madrid, Palma, Salamanca, Santander, Santiago de Compostela, Sevilla, Toledo, and Valencia.

The buy-to-let investor will also need to look at future tourism trends as well as past performance. Expanding trends that may impact on future letting business include:

• The growth in short breaks and out-of-season holidays.
• The growth in activity-based and learning holidays.
• The growth in the retirement market.
• The growing awareness of environmental issues.
• A trend towards a continuous improvement in the facilities offered.
• The rapid increase in bookings via the Internet.