Mediterranean

Spain has been an untouchable power of Mediterranean tourism for years. A country steps on your heels: Türkiye

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With tourism recovering (and even overcoming) the pulse I had before the pandemic, Spain is not the only country that seeks break records and crowned at the top of the podium of international destinations. About 2,500 kilometers from the Iberian Peninsula there is another country, also bathed in the Mediterranean, with a powerful offer of beaches, culture, heritage and gastronomy that struggles for Get a hole in it World top 3 of tourism, a select club now basically reserved to France, Spain and the US. Which? Türkiye. All this accompanied, of course, of a powerful flow of billions of dollars in income for the sector. A for the Top 3. Türkiye is determined to increase at the top of the world tourism ranking. He left it Of course in April his minister of the branch, Mehmet Nuri Ersoyduring a forum organized in Eruzurum, northwest of the country: “In 2024 we managed to become one of the four largest tourist economies in the world, but we will not stop there. Our goal is to be among the first three countries in tourism.” Same message He movedThese days Mehmet İşler, vice president of the Turkish Hotel Federation (Türofed), insisting that the “objective” of the sector is to turn the nation into “one of the three main” powers in the sector. “We have gone from being an affordable holiday destination to be a recognized tourist center,” He claimed in statements collected by Hürriyet Daily Newsthe oldest newspaper in Türkiye. How many tourists do they receive? According to The data Disseminated by his Ministry of Tourism and Culture, in 2024 Türkiye received 62.3 million visitors who translated into income from value of 61.1 billion of dollars. The figure however has a “but”: those 62.3 million include both the 52.6 million of international tourists who passed through the country during the year as the nearly 10 million Turks residing abroad and visited their homeland. The nuance does not mean that the trend of international tourism has been clearly positive in Türkiye. Those 52.6 million foreign visitors suppose A historical record and Improve 9% The result of 2023. The rise also moved to the money generated by the sector: the 61.1 billion dollars registered by the Turkish Statistical Institute (Tüik) reflect an year -on -year increase of 8.3%. And how is 2025? The year has also started with the occasional joy for the Turkish industry, although with nuances. The income flow grew 5.6% during the first quarter to place in 9,450 million Of dollars, but the general balance of visitors was not so good: it stayed at 6.7 million foreign tourists, 5% less than last year. The objectives for this year are ambitious, according to Hürriyet Daily: reach 65 million visitors and shoot the billing at 64,000 million dollars. Expanding the photo. To appreciate the growth of Turkish tourism, however, to take perspective and follow its evolution over the last years. He Historical record De Türsab show that in 2017 the country received around 32.4 million foreign visitors. In 2024 they were 52.6 millionso the increase was 62% in less than a decade. In cash and sound money, that boom resulted in an increase even greater of income Climbing in the ranking. Thanks to this growth Türkiye sneaked first in the Top 10 of the great international destinations and climbed positions in that table. The World Population Review website places it in The sixth place In 2024, behind France, Spain, USA, China and Italy. In other classifications (2023) occupies the fifth. It would actually be various criteria When ordering destinations, such as the flow of international travelers, the weight of the tourism sector or the volume of income. During Your intervention In Erzurum, Ersoy claimed that Turkey managed World Tourism Organizationhe trusted to be fourth in 2024. Important how much … and where. The growth of Turkish tourism does not respond only to the attractiveness of Istanbul or Capadocia, its landscape and gastronomy or the government’s commitment to boost the sector. 2024 data show that it has managed to become strong in certain key markets, such as Russian or Iranian. The first, who now see their flights to Europe for The answer From the West to the war in Ukraine, they grew 6% to add 6.7 million of travelers, almost 13% of the total. Iran received about 3.2 million tourists, 31% more than the previous year. Other key markets were the German, the second main issuing market, with 6.6 millionthe British (4.4 million) or the Bulgarians (2.9), also of course from the Turkish citizens who live outside the country and fly to visit their nation. In 2024 they touched the 10 million. In the first three months of the year the demand punctured in the Russian, German and Iranian markets, so Türsab trusts in alleviating its fall with China, Germany or the United Kingdom. The figures import (all). Turkey tourist emerge is interesting because it has not only translated into more visitors. That trend has come accompanied by greater income flow in a country that, Recognize Ersoyit has been proposed to “prioritize quality over quantity”. “The objective is not only to increase the number of visitors, but go to tourists with high expenses not related to accommodation.” For now, 2025 would have started with an increase in almost 5% In the average spending per traveler. And how does Spain affect? Spain and Türkiye may be separated by thousands of kilometers, but in a way they point to the same markets thanks to their heritage offer, Sun and beach. Although their sector drinks largely from Russian and Iranian markets, Turkish hotels have attracted an intense flow of German and British travelers, very relevant markets for Spanish tourism. Only in 2024 both countries added 20% of foreign demand. Turkish growth in those key points could threaten that of Spain, which It goes now Towards the barrier of 100 million of foreign travelers. In his favor Türkiye has another great asset: prices. Although the fees of their hotels … Read more

Spain has been leading the Mediterranean avocado for years, but now there is someone who disputes the throne: Morocco

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There are always avocados in supermarkets. And no, it is not a miracle. It is globalization: Right now, the Spanish avocado season, Portuguese Moroccan is over. There is still some Israeli avocado in the market, but it is a matter of time that the shelves of the supermarkets are filled with Peruvian, Brazilian, South African or Kenyan avocados. It is the world turning without stopping. It is time to analyze that these months have passed. And there are surprises. Or maybe the word is not ‘surprises’. “They want to cry when you see this”, José Linares said just over a year agoPresident of Trops, the great Malaga producer of avocados and mangoes. It was not for less. This 2023, the subtropical coast of Granada lost almost 90% of mango and avocado crops. For its part, almost half of the billing has been lost in Malaga. 2024 did not seem to solve the situation. Above all, because one of the first relays of Spanish avocado, the Peruvian, was going to suffer in a very intense way the effects of El Niño. And then Morocco arrived. While in Spain the trees dried, Morocco had almost perfect weather conditions: dry and warm minimum winds, absence of storms and water. That, added to the increase in the cultivated area and the maturation of the trees, made Production will increase by 30,000 tons50% more than the previous campaign. That collapsed the price and hit national producers hard. Therefore, the big question is what will happen now. Above all, because there is some tranquility (even euphoria) among Spanish farmers when seeing so full swamps. However, as with the oil, everyone assumes that there are part of the consumers who will not return. How will that international balance look? In this sense, As Freshplaza collectedFrançois Bellivier de Capexo is clear. “Morocco has been very popular this year, with a very good quality campaign and products of very good quality. If Moroccan production continues on this path, and if important weather catastrophes are not produced, this origin should be done with a large part of the market in the coming years.” The Moroccan unknown. Bellivier’s conditional is not free. It is true that agriculture is A vital sector for Morocco’s economybut inevitably faces the same challenges as in Spain: shortage of water, climate change and environmental degradation. So while the Alauita country The European market floods with its productsinternal tensions They keep growing (Invisibilized by a political system unable to faithfully represent the interests of its population). Therefore, the great unknown is how long it will be able to contain the socioecological problems in the medium-long term. Something that, in full crisis of tariffs, is even more critical. Image | Gil Ndjouwou | After Moiz In Xataka | Morocco has given Israel 34,000 km² of the Atlantic for gas exploitation. The problem: they are waters in conflict with Spain

We have compared the effects of the Mediterranean diet with those of the so -called “planetary health diet”. There are surprises

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Something everyday as eating can have a huge impact on our health, but you can also put a small grain of sand in environmental protection. The problem in these cases is that it is not always easy to demonstrate reliably the impacts of our diet on our health and the environment. Some scientists have tried. As beneficial as the Mediterranean diet. A group of researchers He has been studyingface to face, the health and environmental effects of two diets: the traditional and well -known Mediterranean diet, and the least known planetary health diet. According to this analysis, adhesion to both diets presents similar benefits for both our health and our environment. Planetary health diet. The planetary health diet, or PHD for its acronym in English is a diet Proposal in 2019 By a group of experts from the Eat-Lancet commission, associated with the medical magazine The Lancet. It is a diet that prepares the consumption of plant foods and limits the consumption of meats and dairy products (although it does not eliminate them as in vegetarian and vegan diets). “In 2019, the planetary health diet (PHD) was developed to optimize global dietary quality at the same time that the impacts of food production within sustainable borders were maintained,” indicated in a press release Mercedes Sotos Prieto, researcher at the Autonomous University of Madrid and co -author of the study. “However, evidence of how PHD is compared to the Mediterranean diet (…). We have evaluated the effects of both diets on mortality for any cause and the environmental impact on a large (sample) representative of the Spanish population.” 11,488 participants. The study was carried out from compiled data in the study of nutrition and cardiovascular risk in Spain (Enrica). The data of this cohort allowed to track 11,488 participants over 14.4 years. To analyze the adhesion to each of the diets two indexes were used, the PHD Index and Medas Score. These measured the consumption of certain foods associated with each of the diets, the planetary health diet and the Mediterranean diet, respectively. The environmental impact of these forms of food consumption was carried out through the Sharp-ID tool (Sharp-Indicors Database), which allows estimating greenhouse gas emissions based on land uses. Health impacts were measured through mortality, through the National Death Index. The analysis also included information about other variables to adjust the results. Less mortality. The study results They indicated a positive effect of both diets about health. In the case of the PHD, the study showed a decrease of approximately 22% in the risk of death during the period studied when comparing the group with greater adhesion to this diet with respect to the group with less adhesion. In the case of the Mediterranean diet, the comparison between the mortalities of the groups with the greatest and lesser adhesion was approximately 21%. A very similar positive effect, so much that the difference is statistically irrelevant. More than health. The second point of interest is that of the environmental impact of diets, calculated in this case based on emissions that are estimated to the different options. In the case of the PHD diet, the estimate calculates emissions equivalent to 4.15 kg of CO₂ a day, with a soil use estimated at 5.54 m² a day. The Mediterranean diet, on the other hand, is calculated emissions equivalent to 4.36 kg of CO₂ per day, with a land use estimated at 5.43 m² a day. Results, again, very similar. The details of the study have not yet been published in a scientific journal, but were presented at the beginning of the month at the Congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). An open debate. The PHD diet is a relatively recent formula, proposed less than a decade ago. In his presentation it was received with a certain degree of skepticismsomething logical if we take into account the difficulties facing science when analyzing something as complex as nutrition and the effects of food on our body and our health. That is why studies are required to test the Initial results. Experiments such as this incline the balance in favor of this type of diets but when addressing this type of issues all additional information can be useful. In Xataka | Coffee has no cholesterol but does raise its levels. And someone has discovered the perfect elaboration to limit it Image | Louis Hansel

We have just discovered one of the best kept secrets of the Mediterranean diet: its compounds

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There is little we can say that we have not already been told about the virtues of the Mediterranean diet. However, some scientists still persist in studying this diet and its components, with questions about what makes this diet more beneficial or what we can learn from it. A recent study led by researchers from the Autonomous University of Barcelona tries to answer this second question. Very present compounds. To do this, the team performed an analysis focused on a selection of key compounds that we can find in plants such as garlic, saffron, olive or rosemary, among others. These are plants closely related to the Mediterranean diet since they provide some of the most used ingredients and condiments in it. The team responsible for the study points out that some of these active components are “promising” when considering treatments for diseases such as atherosclerosis. They also indicate that they could help reduce the risk of problems such as myocardial infarction or stroke. Plants and Mediterranean diet. The Mediterranean diet is closely linked to a series of ingredients and condiments, many of them extracted from plants that we can find in the regions adjacent to the sea that bathes the coasts of European, Asian and African countries. The team It started from six “representative” plants: garlic (Allium sativum), the hawthorn bush (Crataegus monogyna), saffron (Crocussativus), the olive tree (Olea europaea), rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus), and the vine (Vitis vinifera). The study focused, however, on fifteen bioactive compounds present in these plants: diallyl trisulfide, allicin and S-allyl (cysteine) (in garlic); quercetin, apigenin and chlorogenic acid (in the hawthorn bush); crocina and safranal (in saffron); oleic acid, oleuropein, hydroxytyrosol and oleacein (in olive); rosmarinic acid and carnosic acid (in rosemary); and resveratrol (in the vine). Analyzing the literature. The team carried out a review of the scientific literature focusing on these compounds and their potential properties in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. That is, we searched among previously published studies for those that analyzed the potential benefits of these compounds. Details of the process were published in an article in the magazine Food Bioscience. Mixtures and dosage. The team explains that extracts based on these compounds are “promising,” but also points out some factors to consider. For example, the so-called “matrix effect”. This refers to the fact that the combined ingestion of these compounds with others can alter the effectiveness of their therapeutic effects, both to improve and diminish these effects. This, together with the greater or lesser amount of a compound contained in a food, means that it is not always possible to extrapolate the benefits of a compound to the food that contains it. Understanding the interactions between different compounds, the team highlights, is “essential” to optimize their therapeutic application. One last detail that the team focuses on is the need not to equate “natural” with the best, even in these contexts. “The ‘natural’ label does not guarantee safety, and this emphasizes the need to prioritize pharmacokinetic, toxicological and clinical studies to evaluate its effectiveness, safety and efficiency compared to existing medicines,” They emphasize in their press release. In Xataka | Two new studies reinforce something we already suspected: our diet has a lot to do with cancers of the digestive system Image | Angeleses

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