mass

Dubrovnik feared to become the new Barcelona, ​​so it has come farther than anyone to fulminate mass tourism

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There was a time that Croatia went from 0 to 100 As for visitors. If it is an almost unprecedented destination for the great masses of tourists, to become a “must” where the last Mediterranean jewel to explode. Tourism then became an economic power of the nation, and Dubrovnik became a space that It began to rival With places Like Barcelona. And then Croatia reversed. Tourist collapse preserve. As we said, the walled city of the Dalmatian coast, known as the “pearl of the Adriatic”, became the last decade in a paradigmatic example of what has been called extreme touristification. With visitors overcoming in a proportion of 27 to 1 to residents and a historical center transformed into a decoration of mass consumption after their stellar role In Game of ThronesDubrovnik faced the UNESCO WARNING of losing his condition as a World Heritage if he did not put a brake on lack of control. The diagnosis was devastating: tourism, far from enriching the city, was killing its authenticity and expelling its inhabitants. The radical turn. And then 2017 arrived, when Mayor Mato Franković He assumed the challenge To reverse the situation with measures that, unlike those applied in other European cities, do not remain in superficial patches. While Venice imposes rates on hikers or Barcelona borders hotel beds, Dubrovnik has set a maximum capacity within the walls of 11,200 people. Not only that has also drastically reduced the arrival of cruises: from the eight newspapers that docked only two in 2016, with the obligation to remain at least eight hours to foster tourism more leisurely and profitable. With the implementation of control cameras and of the Dubrovnik Passthe City Council obtains real -time data that allow it to manage flows and anticipate saturations. Urban and social reforms. Plus: The transformation is not limited to regulating the entry of tourists. The strategic plan includes the purchase of old town buildings to allocate them to affordable rent For young families, the opening of a school in a historic palace and new standards that penalize the tourist lease of housing, thus encouraging repopulation. Measures as curious as the prohibition of suitcases With wheels (replaced by an Economic Transportation of Equipos), they seek to preserve the material and immaterial heritage, preventing the streets from becoming a noisy and hostile showcase. The message is clear: Dubrovnik does not want to be a theme park, but a living city. Most controlled tourism. Plus: From next year, access to walls and museums must reserve in time stripeswith a traffic light system that will indicate the moments of greater and lesser influx. The intention is to avoid human stamps and improve the experience of those who visit the city, although some residents suspect that it is a tool to maximize income. In parallel, the Cruise limitation It has reduced the pressure on summer peaks, allowing the number of visitors not to exceed the critical threshold of 10,500 people a day in high season. Resistances and criticism. The measures have not convinced everyone. Neighbors like veteran Marc van Bloemen consider That the reforms do not go to the bottom of the problem and accuse the Consistory of treating the city as an ATM, where the inhabitants feel displaced. In his opinion, time reserves are a trick to attract more visitors and not a real limitation. Faced with this skeptical vision, others Like Marko Miloslocal guide and resident of the historic center, defend that the situation has improved with respect to the maximum saturation years and highlight that the reopening of schools and the return of families is returning life to the center. The international look. Travel agencies Like Regent Holidays recognize the value of Dubrovnicense experimentalthough they warn that the rigidity of the system could divert tourists to other less saturated Croatian regions, such as Istria or the Adriatic Islands. However, the fact that a city so dependent on tourism chooses to sacrifice immediate income volume in favor of sustainability and quality of life makes it a global reference. The mayor insists in which it is a long -term commitment: less visitors, but with a greater expense and a more balanced coexistence with residents. Necessary risk. Thus, the path taken by Dubrovnik is a RARE Avan exception in a world where most destinations continue to pursue a Unlimited tourism growth. The Croatian city dares to challenge that logic and seeks a new balance where quality does not mean quantity. Franković Recognize in the BBC That the benefits will not be immediate, but trusts that, in a few years, Dubrovnik is remembered not as a tourist decoration, but as a living community that knew how to recover his soul. If the experiment thrives, it can mark the course for other cities trapped between the profitability of mass tourism and the survival of its identity. Image | Alex Proimos, Kenny McCartney In Xataka | The eruption of a volcano was synonymous with danger 100 years ago. Today has made Iceland a theme park In Xataka | It is not that mass tourism has been installed in Madrid, Barcelona or Rome, is that it has reached the Galapagos Islands

The Church faces the challenge of a future without priests. At the moment he already knows how to allow women to give “Mass”

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Almudena Suárez Treviño is a woman of Mass. Although not in the conventional sense of expression. She not only goes to the church of her people to listen to the priest on duty, give peace to the rest of parishioners and commune in the Eucharist. No. In addition to all that Almudena officiates religious celebrations in Catholic temples. Almost (almost) as if it were a parish priest. So much so that the bishopric of Tui-Vigo He just ratified it officially in its functions. Your case, enough less exceptional of what it seems, it is actually the finding of a much greater phenomenon: the Vocations crisis. What happened? That the bishop of Tui-Vigo has just published a APPOINTMENT LIST Officers, a kind of internal adjustment in the diocese to “alleviate the current deficiencies of attention “that causes the shortage of priests. Until there nothing weird. Nor does anything that can arouse interest beyond the affected villages. The striking, which has aroused the interest of the parishioners and means of the rest of the community and Spain (including the Galician television), is that this list of priests closes with the name of a woman: Almudena Suárez. And not just that. He Official document Proclamation for those who want to read it that this woman is authorized to direct “the celebration of the word” in seven parishes of the arciprest of Louriña (Pontevedra) as long as its presbyter is not. Actually the announcement of the bishop of Tui-Vigo is a ratification because Almudena has been having an out of the common role in his parishes. So much, in fact, that three years ago Vigo lighthouse He already dedicated him A report. Click on the image to go to Tweet. A cure woman? No. Almudena is not a priest. It is really Biologist and theologianhas a title of religious sciences, a master’s degree and at least until a few years ago she exercised as a religion teacher in an Institute in Pontevedra. That is your professional curriculum, your presentation sheet. 21 years ago, however, one of his theology professors proposed to embark on “An innovative project”an adventure that in practice would lead him to be more than a simple parishioner. What Almudena did was get involved in the Diocesan assemblies in the absence of presbyters in the Galician rural. With the approval of who then act as a bishop in the diocese of Tui-Vigo (a decision that his successors have maintained) assumed a responsibility that basically allows the parishes in the area to become more bearable the shortage of priests and the lack of vocations. But Masses officiate? No. Sundays Almudena go to a series of churches, it is located before the rest of parishioners, read, preach and fulfill in some way the role that a pastor should play, but does not officiate a liturgy. What it does has another name: word celebration. “We arrived, we meet and the first part of the celebration, which is called the word liturgy, is exactly the same as in a mass. We ask for forgiveness, the reading is done, I proclaim the gospel and preach,” Explain to The voice. “We profess faith, pray the creed and do the requests.” That does not mean that it is a kind of priestess or that it takes care of the same rites as a priest. “I want to make it clear that I don’t trade masses”, insists The woman before clarifying that when it comes to communing she is only responsible for distributing the hosts that a pastor has previously consecrated, a task that the Church does not allow her to assume. By providing that service Almudena facilitates life to the priest in charge of the seven villages, serving as support. The two alternate on Sundays in the churches, so that a week the parishioners have Mass and the following, celebration. How do she carry it? Initially he confesses that it was difficult to take pass through his family’s misgivings to “how people would respond.” After spinning, however, he decided to accept the offer and assume a new role in the diocese. “I thought it was a good opportunity, since we are always complaining about women that they do not give us power in the church. I thought it could be good for all of us,” confesses. “In the end I threw myself into the pool and it was as if I touched the lottery.” It makes that more than 20 years, a period during which it has gone through different places where assures having encountered the acceptance and “affection” of the parishioners. “I was the first and I am the only one with appointment (from the bishopric of Tui-Vigo). I have it since 2004. What happens is that this time it has been more evident because, for the first time, breaking glass roofs, the appointment was published on the Bishopric website,” he celebrates. Is it a unique case? No. The role of Almudena may not be common in southern Galicia, but if we expand the focus to the rest of Spain we verify that there are more lay people who exert the same function as her. Including women too. In 2018 The voice revealed Also that to the north of the community, in Outes, there was a group of neighbors who were responsible for ceremonies before the shortage of priests. “It is not the Mass of women, as they say, they are women who make the Sunday celebration for the entire community,” I clarified The parish priest. There are also examples in Burgos, Tarragona either Lionamong other points of The emptied Spain. “The priests in charge, generally, of a good number of rural parishes, cannot go every Sunday to celebrate the Eucharist in all of them, so they sometimes have a lay or religious who, on Sundays in which the pastor is absent, goes to direct ‘the celebration of the word’”, They explain from the archdiocese of Oviedo. The Catholic Church in fact offers Formations for laity. A … Read more

Toledo has proposed to change mass tourism for another “quality”. And it is clear where to look for it: in China

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With the flow of foreign visitors at record levels and the touristry converted into Hot debate themeToledo has proposed to rethink its tourism. The city lasts a ordinance that regulates the sector and He has recognized openly that he wants his flow of travelers to be more compatible with the day -to -day life of his neighbors, enhancing “quality tourism against mass.” Given that challenge, your City Council It is very clear Where you should look: China. That is why he has decided to go to the Asian giant has promoted himself. To the hunt for tourists. Toledo wants more Chinese tourists. And is willing to travel thousands of kilometers to achieve it. The city has just launched a commercial mission Headed by its mayor, Carlos Velázquez, to sell the benefits of the Castillanomanchega town in the Asian market. The delegation, in which local representatives and representatives of the hoteliers and the Toledo business fabric will participate, part today with a clear purpose: “reinforce tourism promotion” in China and (an important nuance) “attract quality tourism.” And what exactly will they do? In The statement In which he reports the campaign, the City Council does not give too many details, but it does advance that it will include “commercial meetings”, aspires to “consolidate” the image of Toledo as “quality tourism destination” and contemplates meetings with representatives of Chinese provinces. The team also wants to start the procedures for The twinning From Toledo with Xi´an, the city of the celebration Terracota warriors. What … and when. The initiative is interesting both for its content and (especially) for its context. After all, it is not any time for Toledo tourism. The City Council expects to approve This same month a New Ordinance which aspires to “make coexistence easier” between visitors and residents of their historic center and above all, In words of Carlos Velázquez himself, “to enhance quality tourism against mass.” That expression (“quality tourism”) is repeated half a dozen in The statement in which the City Council informs of the commercial mission. The New standard which will regulate the tourism of Toledo contemplates the declaration of certain streets of the Historic Center as saturated areas, in which special rules will be applied that facilitate the passage of visitors and neighbors. It also foresees that broad groups (formed by more than 30 people) must use individual audio systems, prohibit the use of megaphones at night and establishes that the guides Free Tours They will not be able to use colored umbrellas to capture customers. Why Chinese tourists? For several reasons. The main (and obvious) is the size of the Chinese market, a country of 1.4 billion of potential visitors. The Toledo Consistory himself remembers that only in the Xi´an metropolitan region, a territory with which he wants Portugal. And although the flow of travelers of the Asian giant is in a way conditioned By the war in Ukraine (the conflict affects aerial connections), Europe remains a Popular destination For the Chinese, whose tourism sector He recovers After the pandemic sake. In fact Toledo is not the only city that seeks to cut its visitors. Others locations and companies Spanish have already traveled to the Asian giant to strengthen ties. Carlos Velázquez himself has shown in other occasions His interest in China as the engine of a “quality tourism.” A figure: 3,150 euros. The Chinese visitor usually highlights for another reason, especially interesting for the tourism industry in its broader spectrum: the portfolio. According to the UNChina leads the ranking of international tourism spending, standing well above the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom and France, which complete the ‘Top 5’. And the United Nations is not the only source that points in that direction. In July Visa published A report on expenses of foreign visitors in Spain that places the Chinese in first position. “Each international tourist plans to spend on their trip to Spain up to € 3,150, which reinforces the positive impact of the sector on the national economy. For markets, Chinese tourists lead the average expenditure (€ 3,150), followed by Americans (€ 2,850) and Mexicans (€ 2,435)”, collect the reportwhich recalls that those who visit Spain do it above all for their cultural wealth, their attractiveness as a destination of sun and beach and the desire to know emblematic cities. The authors of the study They slide In addition, another interesting idea: as well as the British who arrive in Spain, they seek especially sun and beach and Mexican cultural experiences, the Chinese especially value purchases. Is there more data? Yes. And show the potential of the Chinese market that now hopes to conquer Toledo. While the flow of visitors to the Asian giant continues to be far from other countries such as the United Kingdom or Germany, The INE shows That last year Spain received just over 640,000 Chinese visitors, still below the 700,700 it reached before the pandemic. As for spending, the INE agrees that the average by Chinese visitor was around last year the € 2,900in front of the 1,300 of the Germans or 1,200 of the English. Statistics does not detail if it includes the value of flights. In any case, your half -day/person is also high: 406in front of the 165 of the Germans. Images | Daniel Velásquez (UNSPLASH), David Stanley (Flickr) and A Tourism (X) In Xataka | In San Juan de Luz they are discovering something: tourists are going from “picnic” to the beach before the prices of the bars

The coast of Cádiz is crowded in summer. Except an inexplicable beach that has managed to flee from mass tourism

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Spain has a vast coastal strip of almost 8,000 km and much of it is formed by sand that every summer becomes Tourist boilersboth from other regions of Spain and abroad. Cádiz knows it well, although the Andalusian province can boast of conserving A (almost) virgin sand that has managed to avoid the traveler boom that saturates the country. His name: Castilnovo. A virgin beach? That’s how it is. That in summer you speak of the beaches and Cadiz coves is no novelty. After all, the Costa de la Luz and the Costa del Sol are two of the most busy destinations by tourists looking for sun and beach in the summer months. What is much less common is to find that one of those sandy sand is an almost virgin natural jewel, free of buildings, bars, hotels and hordes of veraneantes fighting for nailing its umbrellas. It is fair is what the Castilnovo Beach. Castilnovo Beach? His name may not be as known as that of the sands of Bologna, Burriana either Barrosaalso distributed along the Andalusian coast, but during the last weeks the beach of Castilnovo has activated the radar of the National Press and specialized media on trips. And it is logical. Located between the mouth of the salty and conilete rivers, this beach 3,000 meters It is a rare Avis of the Spanish coast, a haven of peace and tranquility that has managed to dodge the tourist boom of other points of the Spanish coast. And how is it? In words From the Conil Tourism Office it is an “extensive virgin beach ideal to enjoy long walks through a unique environment where nature is the protagonist”, a sand tongue of 3,000 kilometers That starts with Conil and ends near El Palmar, in the municipality of Vejer. “Beach of great landscape importance in which one of its most striking characteristics is the absence of constructions,” says the City Council before underline that the area includes dunes and salinas, in addition to cultivation fields, cattle and an “outstanding” variety of insects and birds, such as the SHATP SHAFT. No buildings? A look With Google Maps it shows that the landscape is quite different from that of the neighboring Costa de Sancti Petri. In Castilnovo, between the Palmar and Conil, a strip of fields is extended with hardly any constructions. In fact, the most emblematic is the tower that takes the name of the beach, an Almenara building that dating from the 16th century and is classified as a good of cultural interest (BIC). His aim It was to serve as a surveillance position to anticipate Berber attacks and identify the passage of Atunes. In 1755the same day Lisbon suffered An earthquakea tsamot destroyed part of the structure. Cádiz Diputación itself Highlight that “one of the most striking characteristics” of the beach is precisely that it lacks constructions. “The lonely Almenara Torre de Castilnovo rises on the horizon guarding the beach. A wide plain is extended around it where the crops, livestock land and the wet areas of the riverbank of the river are mixed on the wide surface, beyond the Las Marinas and old saline road dominate the land,” stands out. And how is it possible? Travel guides They usually emphasize that those who want to enjoy Castilnovo must keep in mind before what they will find there: a virgin space in which It is not strange See people practicing sports such as surfing, Windsurf or Kitesurf (even a nudist, although beach It is not cataloged as a naturist), but without the comfort of other sand. Usually The guides They point That has no beach bargain, bars, or nearby services. In some points there is not even coverage. And of course those who want to enjoy the landscape must walk and resign themselves to leave their car At a certain distance. The Diputación remember In addition, at least part of the space is protected by the City of Conil for its environmental importance. Images | Conil tourism, Roberto Vázquez González (Flickr)Google Earth and Diputación de Cádiz In Xataka | The beach of the crystals: Galicia has one of the most fascinating sands in Spain by chance

A large mass of cold air on our heads

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The first half of the summer of 2025 was of intense heat. Now, those days seem distant for many: temperatures have descended significantly and everything indicates that they will remain for a while. The responsible: a large mass of cold air. A cold dough. Temperatures this week They will continue to be low In a good part of the country, according to expert forecasts. At least for what would correspond to this time of the year: the last days of July and early August is precisely where the cannula is usually given, the summer point in which the temperature peak is reached. The reason is in a large mass of cold air located on Western Europe and that also covers part of the Iberian Peninsula. Behind this situation are the undulations of the polar jet. A more undulating jet current of what is usually common is responsible for bringing to our latitudes this mass of cold air and the consequent atmospheric instability. More than fresh air. The low temperatures at this time of the year are striking in themselves, but they are not alone: in some areas it is expected that rainfall and storms continue during this week, although for now it is not expected to reach the intensity of The episodes seen last week. The forecasts From the State Meteorology Agency (Aemet) they talk about “abundant” rainfall today in the Eastern Cantabrian and North of the Pyrenees, With yellow warnings activated in eastern Catalonia. A situation that will be similar tomorrow, with rainfall also in the area of Cabo de la Nao and again with notices for rains activated on the Catalan coast. On the border. The situation will not be homogeneous. Not much less. While the north of the Peninsula and the Mediterranean basin experience a thermal decrease, temperatures will exceed the fork of the 34º to 36º in the southwest quadrant, especially inside. Aemet has activated various notices due to high temperatures in these areas, among which orange notices (important risk) in the valleys of Guadiana and Guadalquivir. The maximum could reach 41º in areas such as the Cordoba countryside. A warm August. We do not know exactly when this “cold episode” will end but Medium -term reviews indicate A second half of August in which temperatures could be warmer again than usual. We will have to wait to verify the evolution, but for now what seems safe is that this year’s canicle will not be how we could have anticipated a few weeks ago. In Xataka | What came fast, fast is going: the big basins already have their reservoirs less than 80% of their capacity Image | ECMWF

A small town in Holland has the solution to mass tourism: to fool Google Maps

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Mass tourism has unable consequences for residents. Recently we talked about the Avalanche of tourists who go to the lavender fields in Brihuega. In the Parkbuurt neighborhood, located in a small coastal town in Holland, they also have problems with tourism. Specifically because, in the most influx days, it is impossible for them to park. The neighbors have got to work to solve it with a very ingenious method. Fed up neighbors. Parking in Parkbuurt was not a problem until tourists arrived. Especially on weekends, its streets are filled with cars and neighbors, fed up with not being able to park normally, as they say in NH News. What they did was start reporting street blockages on Google Maps so that the app sending visitors to other areas. Google Maps to Rescue. It is the navigation app most used in the world And its function to report incidents on the road makes it perfect for this type of actions. A single report would not take effect, but with neighbors organizing to send reports at the same time the thing changes. The streets of the neighborhood appear as cut in the app and that makes visitors go to other areas. Answer. The trick has worked for them, but it has had some unwanted effects. Gert-Jan Bluijs, councilor of the municipality, is not funny and ensures that this measure has generated more chaos in other adjacent neighborhoods. The neighbors defend themselves from criticism ensuring that it is a peaceful measure that only apply on weekends, during the week they were not applying it. They see it as a way of exerting pressure to do something from the City Council. At the moment, what the City Council has done is to place a sign at the entrance of the town asking visitors to deactivate Google Maps. More cases. It is not the first time that similar tactics are used to combat tourist saturation. A few months ago something similar also happened in Holland, near the area of the Keukenhof Tulipanes gardens. This same year, we knew that Barcelona had eliminated a Google Maps bus route so that tourists would not collapse it. The result was good in that bus line, but others collapsed. The other face. We have seen that navigation apps can be a tool to divert traffic, but they can also be the cause of the problem. Years ago we told you how Waze’s suggestions ruined the tranquility of some neighborhoods. The app, now GOOGLE PROPERTYsuggests faster routes and diverts traffic through streets that used to be little busy. In Xataka | Iceland is so tired of tourism that it has decided to stop it drastically: fringing its visitors Image | Rudi Arlt in Pixabay

Spain has its own Mykonos. And share with her something more than the coast and the wrapped houses: mass tourism

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Its wrapped houses, terraces, alleys and landscapes of the Mediterranean coast earned him Binibeca Vell The nickname “Mykonos Español”but over time this small town in Menorca has ended looking to the famous island of the cycles for another different reason: the Tourist saturation. As is the case in the Greek destiny, The town It fills every summer of thousands of visitors, an avalanche that is not always easy to fit in the routine of its neighbors. Hence they have decided to take action. A Spanish Mykonos? Yes. In fact, this informal title is disputed by several locations in the country, such as Frigilianain Malaga, or The Moorish Isletin Almería. Both stand out for their low houses of enchanted facades, narrow alleys, terraces and coastal landscapes bathed by the light of the Mediterranean. Exactly the same as Binibeca Vella small urbanization located in the south of Menorca, within the municipality of Sant Lluís. Its landscapes have made time win the nickname “Mykonos Menorquín” and a hole on the websites of the travel agencies, Blogs And even in The promotion of the Balearic institutions. What is its origin? Binibeca is not only known as “Mykonos de Baleares”. The locals also usually refer to it as “fishing village”, although in reality its origin has little to do with the people who make a living in the Mediterranean. The settlement is located in an old sailor shelter, but what we see today rose in the early 1960s as a residential urbanization driven by the rigger Antonio Sintes and the architect Corsini beardwho were inspired by Greece. The result is a picturesque populated with white houses glued to each other, 165 constructions distributed by an built surface of about 8,000 square meters located in a privileged environment, just in front of the sea. The Binibeca owners community stands out Another of its peculiarities: the settlement is “an urbanization”, “a private property” in which it is the residents themselves who are responsible for paying a fee for the maintenance of the area. And do tourists receive? Yes. Many. The community of owners ensures that in recent years visits “have increased significantly” to overcome the 800,000 annuallya considerable fact if one takes into account that in the area they reside just 200 people And during the winter months that figure is minimized. Maybe this disproportion between the number of residents and the great flow of visitors, but makes enough sense. To start with the tourist success of the Balearic Islands in General and Menorca in particular, which receives each year hundreds of thousands of tourists. Secondly, due to the visibility and promotion of the town, both in the networks and through Agencies, Forums And even Balearic institutions. “If you put the Menorca word on Instagram, of every 10 images that appear, three are from Binibeca Vell,” assured last year to The country Óscar Monge, president of the community of owners. What is coexistence like? If the neighbors of Mykonos island know something (the authentic, the one located in the cycles) is that living in a Mediterranean paradise is not always simple. On the website of the urbanization the residents themselves They recognize That the avalanche of tourists has a direct effect in its day to day, “complicating coexistence.” “Port adventure looks like, but they at least charge you the entrance,” summarize Monge. In practice that translates into dealing with tourists eager to achieve the best Selfie They do not hesitate to sneak into a private terrace to get it. “Tourists touch everything. One of our neighbors has many plants in pots and tourists move them to get a better photo. They sit in chairs in private porches,” explained a few months ago to The Telegraph one of the inhabitants of the urbanization. “They speak very high and the noise resonates because the town is small and closed. They sit on the stairs and, when the owner asks them to move, they refuse because they want to get the perfect photo.” And what have they done? Move token. That Binibeca is a private urbanization with a community of owners, not a real town of fishermen, makes its residents face tourist saturation with a different approach to that of other Balearic residents. Last year The community decreed that would allow visits only in a certain time slot, during the day. The rest of the time the space would remain closed with chains with notices. In The urbanization website A small plane can be consulted in which the visible areas, passage areas and the visiting schedule are detailed, restricted from 10.00 to 22.00 h. There are also certain guidelines for visitors: they are silent, keep the environment clean, not take photos for commercial purposes or inside the houses and, of course, that they do not enter into private homes or feel on the terraces. “When you visit us remember that you have entered a private property and you must respect the privacy of the neighbors,” They underline. Is there more? Yes. In 2023 the community and the Consell de Menorca reached a pact to lighten tourist pressure on the town, which passed among other issues to regulate the arrival of buses or help in the conservation of the area. The agreement It was not renewed However and a year ago the community threatened to go further and Vote the total closure From urbanization to tourism, a drastic measure because the flow of tourists is key to the businesses located in the area. “We pay expensive to be the most popular tourist attraction of Menorca”, Monge lamented. “Binibeca is promoted by the island administration and tourism companies, but what benefit do we get from it? We have nothing against tourism, but sometimes it seems that we live in Disneyland.” Their complaints of 2024 have served for the moment to promote a change in tourists, among which they appreciate (except exceptions) an attitude “a bit more moderate.” And what do they plan to do? A few days ago residents shared with … Read more

Spain suffered a mass blackout. The distributed teleworking came immediately to save many companies

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Spain has lived an unprecedented fact in its history: A generalized blackout that affected the electricity supply of The entire Iberian Peninsulaincluding Portugal. As a collateral effect due to saturation, the mobile communications network He also collapsed. This made the normal development of The working day. So many companies ended up closing their doors. The blackout that Spain has suffered has been A very extreme casebut teleworking and, above all, distributed work has saved the furniture of those companies that did not have a staff structure based on workers resident in a single citycountry and even continent. While many companies They were forced at closing For not having electricity or Internet access, including those with remote employees, companies with remote workers distributed throughout the world demonstrated their resilience to any local incidence such as the one that left Spain in the dark. We have talked to two of those companies that could maintain their activity in Spain thanks to remote work distributed by different countries. Distributed work and global blackout templates One of the things that the proliferation of the Teleworking after the 2020 pandemicis that talent It no longer has borders And, thanks to technology, someone in Bali I could be teleworking For a Spanish company without any problem. Some digital native companies such as Eventbritea platform for the sale of tickets and events, broke with their centralized organization following the pandemic, and chose to redesign their structure in A decentralized model Based on small teams distributed throughout the world, but mainly in the US, India and Spain. Jaime ValloriVice President of Eventbrite engineering assured that Thanks to that decentralized structureEventbrite continued to function normally while the blackout lasted. “We organize in teams (Squads) that are responsible for the maintenance of the detail pages of certain events. On Monday, the Squads of Spain is not that they could not do the maintenance of those events, they could not even know if something happened because they could not access,” Vallori told us. Before such a scenariothe rest of the teams located outside Spain took over from their teammates. “We activate a protocol so that the teams we have in the United States and India, proactively monitoring those areas that we covered from Spain, but obviously, could not be covered by our team,” said Eventbrite Engineering head in Spain. Vallori stressed that the platform has an incident alert protocol that is automatically climbing to different equipment if it is not answered in a certain period of time. “Since we are geographically distributed, throughout that protocol there is people from different areas of the world Until you get up at all. Therefore, although we had not given us time to activate that checkup (of local events) proactively, in the end through the scaling, it would have reached someone who could access and resolve the incidence, “Vallorí explained. “Our customer service is also distributed between the United States and other countries,” says Vallori. Therefore, if someone with sufficient coverage In Spain I would like to be attended by the company’s customer service could have done so because it remained active despite the fact that the development team in Spain was not operational. Blablacar continued moving in the dark Víctor Méndez, Vice President of Engineering of Blablacar, already told us the Advantages of having a remote template distributed by different countries. Resilience to an event like the blackout that Spain has suffered is one that can add to its list. Florent BannwarthCountry Lead de Blablacar, lived in the first person the disconnection of your entire team of the company’s infrastructure. “He had time to see him come a little and notify France and other countries from which he was going to come to Spain. No one was going to be able to use the platform and we did not know when he was going to re -normalize. So from France they could organize and gave us support, “Bannwarth recalled. In addition to the shared car service, Blablacar also manages an international bus service, so it starts from France’s support was based on replacing the Spanish team in the management of those buses that came out of different parts of Spain. If not for them, This service would have stopped workingjust at the time when neither trains nor airplanes They operated normally. “The service worked without incident and had an important peak of activity, especially between Barcelona and cities in southern France such as Perpignan and Toulouse, many passengers. At the last minute the only thing that worked It was the bus“The head of the Blablacar team in Spain said. On the other hand, Blablacar’s distributed model allowed teams from other countries Maintain the operational platform in Spain so that it would not register incidents once the service was restored, avoiding delays in its implementation as it happened In the railway sector. “The next Tuesday was the day that the most reservations made in Blablacar in more than 15 years in Spain”, due to the need for urgent displacement of those who They had stayed halfway of his destinations because of the blackout. “Another advantage we had was that, part of the user service team that attends in Spanish, works from France and other countries,” although Spain’s staff of Spain was not operational, users who had coverage could solve their incidents normally. In Xataka | Companies that have eliminated teleworking are facing a big problem: they take longer to cover their vacancies Image | Unspash (Dmitry Grachyov)

The north of Spain has been complaining about mass tourism for years. Asturias has discovered the bitter consequences of losing it

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The formula of nature, calm and good kitchen that for years promoted Rural tourism In Asturias It seems to lose bellows. AND clearly. Although the photo of recent years is distorted by COVID, the housing of the principality specialized in this type of tourism have seen how His activity descended until they were driving before the pandemic. At least according to INE data. It is not so much a “puncture” in the flow of travelers and in that of the rooms (They last less) and the loss of interest in the national market. The phenomenon is interesting because it coincides with another or even more media: complaints in a large part of the peninsular northern ( Galicia to Cantabria or in your own Asturias) For precisely the opposite, the effects of tourist massification. While in Cantabria they cry for not being “The North Ibiza” And Galicia complains about The “fodechinchos”inside and the Asturian mountain the hoteliers cry out for measures that avoid the slow decline of rural tourism. An icon in low hours. A quick search arrives on Google to verify that rural tourism does not go through its best moment in Asturias. TO The news of the Regional Press about The fall of activity those in the sector claiming are added “Specific aids” and those of the Principality trying to reassure him. In fact, in January Adrián Barbón He promised to “rethink” rural tourism of the region “to recover thrust.” Shortly after its executive announced a Bond program With discounts designed to encourage demand. That the situation of the sector arouses so much interest in the Principality is more than understandable. In the mid -80s, and thanks largely to your campaign “Asturias Paraíso Natural”the community managed to make a place in a sector in which until then the tourism of Sun and beach prevailed. Today Asturias adds hundreds of establishments with thousands of places (in August the INE computed almost 1,400 and 14,800respectively) and stands out for its volume of rural houses per capita. What do the data say? That the sector has known better times. The INE shows that last year the Rural Accommodations of Asturias received some 304,000 travelers who paid for 924,400 overnight stays. The first data is not exactly bad. It is a slight increase of 1.7% compared to 2023 and is online of 2019. The second worries. In a Growth scenario The number of hired nights fell 3.2% year -on -year and remains away from the almost 975,000 overnight stays that the sector managed in 2019. The 2025 start has not been especially good. During the first quarter the volume of travelers and overnight stays fell with respect to last year, although the data should be handled cautiously. First because in 2024 Holy Week, a period of strong tourist demand, fell in March and this year did so in April. Second because There may be variations important from one month to another. In fact the Principality He has checked already for the growth of February. “Very black winter”. The truth is that the sector is far from satisfied. Recently the president of the EO-Porcia association implied in An interview with eldiario.es that the balance has been of everything but good in recent months. “50% of the peoples that are still inhabited today are for rural tourism. Fixed population and allows you I recognized. In its own accommodations, three apartments and a house, it did not register any reserve between the Bridge of the Constitution and last Holy Week. Looking for the causes. The big question is … What are you due to these data from the sector, especially overnight stays? Why if in August 2001 the average stay In rural accommodations, was 6.13 days passed to 4.76 in 2019 and 4.24 last year? For Ana Llanoof the Fuentes del Narcea Association, one of the keys is the change in demand. Tourists are looking for different things today during their vacations. Or rather, it does so at a different rhythm and way. “Before people came to spend the summer, to spend a few days in nature, to enjoy the house themselves. Now people want regrets In eldiario.es. His comment is in tune with the data on the duration of the rooms and another key indicator: the overnight stays fall in the rural one, but grow in the set of Asturias. “They end rural tourism”. To that challenge others are added: the de -stationalization, the need to enrich the offer with packages or the competition of other types of accommodation, such as Tourist housing (VUT) or the “illegal establishments” that (precisely by acting outside the administration) also blur the balance of the sector. There are those who speak of tens only between Vegadeo and Navia and who focuses the focus on the VUT. “They are ending rural tourism,” they said recently From the sector to The voice. Foreign lifeguard. The general photo leaves another interesting nuance. Asturian rural accommodations may be invoiced today less overnight than before pandemic, but that fall is mainly due to domestic demand. The nights hired by Spaniards fall, but those reserved by tourists from outside the country have grown considerably. With that backdrop last autumn the Principality launched A campaign aimed above all to the Asturian themselves. His slogan: “Are you sure you know Asturias?” When tourism does not arrive. The case of Asturias is interesting for something else. Between record tourism data and with the open debate on the effect of the sector on the real estate market, over the last years in much of Spain they have happened The protests against tourist. Especially in points such as the Canary Islands or Balearic Islands, but also in areas of the North, including Galicia or Cantabria, where the saturation of certain points has become a matter of debate. The Asturian rural and interior situation leaves a key question: what happens when tourism stops arriving or comes less? What if the Fodechinchos Do they stop traveling or areas that have developed … Read more

After the mass blackout of Spain he feared looting and security problems. Reality was very different

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Nor pillage. Nor Latrocinio. No chaos unleashed in the streets. Although most of the country stayed yesterday to two candles (literally) and Thousands of Spaniards They went to sleep yet without electricity in their homes and businesses, on April 28, 2025 will not go down in history because it is a day of chaos. Not everything was An oil raftof course, but this morning the Interior Ministry He underlined that the night has been “quiet”, “without remarkable security incidents.” Nothing that the country has not already lived during the pandemic, when Spain already demonstrated its obedience during the alarm states to stop the COVID-19. That almost a country is based black (in energy terms), as happened on Monday at 12.33 h in Spain, it obviously has multiple derivatives. It affects the industry. It affects trade. It affects mobility and education. And affects security. Yesterday the government declared The national emergency in eight communities and one of the issues that was in the public debate during the first hours was precisely The media deployment To guarantee security. “Security problems” “Madrid has 9,000 streets, 3.5 million inhabitants … If a city is these dimensions, we are all aware, we are all aware that they can give Security problems at very diverse and different points “, warned In the afternoon the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida. Without electricity, many businesses were left without a dataphone, but also without surveillance or automatic systems that allow them to close their premises. The fear of looting and robberies during the blackout even led some merchants to monitor their stores. In Ayamonte, Huelva, there were who The night passed In their businesses unable to lower the blinds and in Granada the newspaper Ideal speaks of entrepreneurs in a similar situation that resisted to leave their premises. “People take advantage of to steal and we have no system here that allows us to ensure the store,” admitted a ABC The clerk of a store in the center of Madrid while waiting for the supply to be restored. His suspicion was understandable. Click on the image to go to Tweet. After the Dana de Valencia there were those who took advantage of chaos to make looting and take home batteries, sports material, telephones or consoles, for example, sometimes even with truck help. Only the night from October 30 the National Police arrested 39 people During a surveillance campaign in commercial areas and weeks later, in mid -November, the number of detainees for looting in the areas affected by the rains over 400. It is not even necessary that an event as devastating as the DANA of Valencia occurs. In 1977 New York lived An electric cut which lasted for a day and resulted in a “night of terror”, in the words of the magazine Timewith the looting of more than 1,615 storesmore than 1,000 fires, around 4,000 detainees and hundreds of injured police. A few weeks ago Before a mass blackout also affected much of Chile, the Buric government chose to decree the state of exception and imposed a curfew between ten and six in the morning. In Spain the authorities also chose reinforce securityalthough without reaching such drastic measures. The Government Precise that between Monday and Tuesday they deployed through the country More than 30,000 agents of the National Police and Civil Guard, to which other forces of autonomic and local bodies are added. Click on the image to go to Tweet. In Catalonia Los Mossos d’esquadra They lengthened shifts and activated a night security plan with something More than 7,200 agentswhile there were cities that also increased their local endowments. In Vigo The mayor said Yesterday that the Local Police would triple their efforts and at night 13 municipal patrols would be deployed, to which almost twenty nationals would be added. What has been the balance? A relative tranquility. At least if one takes into account that, although part of the country began to recover electricity within a few hours, there have been cities that took More than 14 hours in having light and the day was marked by Communications problems and traffic lights. The total alert balance is not yet known, but inner speaks of a “quiet night and without remarkable incidents of security or public order” and both the Mayor of Madrid like that of Barcelona They have highlighted the “civism” of their neighbors. “The Madrid have shown that they give their best in the most difficult moments. In front of the blackout, a lesson of civility,” Almeida presumes. That does not mean that the last hours have been An oil raft. Eldiario speaks Of robbery attempts, activated alarms and “some” burning containers in localities of Andalusia and in the city of the emergency services had attended in the afternoon Double of calls of the usual, although Many incidents They were related to people trapped in elevators or people with mobility problems. In Other cities From the country and less inhabitants, the dripping of notices to the authorities throughout the day was also intense. The most graphic answer He has given it However, this morning, Mayor José Luis Martínez- Almeida when they have asked him about how the night had gone in the capital, in which, he says, only a reysta and a launa was recorded. “Quieter than anyone”, summarizes the councilor from Madrid. Image | Xataka In Xataka | We still do not know what caused the blackout in Spain, but experts already dispute a theory: the role of renewables

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