Covid-19 Gives a Boost to Proximity Tourism
Before the pandemic, 68% of Spaniards never went on a guided tour of their home town. But for more and more people, proximity tourism in their local area is becoming an attractive alternative. A survey by Civitatis shows that 86% of these new native tourists say that they have “rediscovered” their own local area and it has exceeded their expectations
Spanish people have found that proximity tourism can be a good alternative this year now that Coronavirus is preventing them travelling further away. About 70% of travellers chose this alternative this summer, according to data from Spain’s National Observatory of Outbound Tourism (ObservaTUR). As Alberto Gutiérrez, CEO and Founder of Civitatis, says “If this pandemic has made one thing clear, it is that people are still willing to travel and discover new experiences.”
Due to restrictions or just as a precaution, “People have mostly opted for proximity tourism (within a radius of about 200 km) or even day trips. They’re even going as far as becoming tourists in their home towns to rediscover the history, secrets and monuments around where they live that were too crowded before Covid” Gutiérrez says.
Civitatis recently surveyed this trend, and it shows that until now, 68% of Spanish people had never been on a guided tour of their home towns. But now that they have tried being indigenous tourists, they are delighted with the experience: No less than 86% of those surveyed said that they had exceeded their expectations by rediscovering their home towns through the eyes of a tourist.