The Spanish economy boomed from 1986 to 1990 averaging 5% annual growth. After a European-wide recession in the early 1990s, the Spanish economy resumed moderate growth starting in 1994. Spain's mixed capitalist economy supports a GDP that on a per capita basis is equal to that of the leading West European economies. The center-right government of former President Jose Maria AZNAR successfully worked to gain admission to the first group of countries launching the European single currency (the euro) on 1 January 1999. The AZNAR administration continued to advocate liberalization, privatization, and deregulation of the economy and introduced some tax reforms to that end. Unemployment fell steadily under the AZNAR administration but remains high at 7.6%. Growth averaging more than 3% annually during 2003-07 was satisfactory given the background of a faltering European economy. The Socialist president, RODRIGUEZ ZAPATERO, has made mixed progress in carrying out key structural reforms, which need to be accelerated and deepened to sustain Spain's economic growth. Despite the economy's relative solid footing, significant downside risks remain including Spain's continued loss of competitiveness, the potential for a housing market collapse, the country's changing demographic profile, and a decline in EU structural funds.
Spain is one of the top tourism destinations in the world with more than 50 million foreign visitors each year. Tourism is the second largest industry in Spain and provides around 11 % of country’s GDP. The country offers a wide variety of landscapes, activities and entertainments. The most popular place for tourists is Barcelona. The city is famous by amazing architecture, many monuments from different stages of history and great number of museums. Barcelona enjoys a mild climate all the year with average temperature of 25oC in the summer and 10oC in winter. The largest city and the capital of Spain is Madrid with more than 3 million inhabitants. The city also is the seat to the Spanish government institutions and to the main Spain’s companies. Madrid is also famous for its nightlife with nightclubs and dances all night long.
Spain is attracting tourist with lots of sunshine days, beaches, golf courses and many other tourists’ destinations. One of the most popular regions is Andalusia in the south of Spain. Andalusia offers great places to stay like Almeria and Cabo de Gata at the Mediterranean coast. In addition, favorite places are Granada, Costa del Sol and of course the birth place of Picasso – Malaga.
The Kingdom of Spain has two groups of islands – Balearic Islands and Canary Islands. The most popular and the most developed islands are Majorca and Ibiza from Balearic group, Gran Canaria, Tenerife and La Palma of Canary Islands group.
