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Spain Set for Record Tourist Numbers in 2024 after First-Half Jump

FILE PHOTO: Tourists and residents drink on a street in Gracia neighborhood during a heatwave of the summer, in Barcelona, Spain August 19, 2023. REUTERS/Bruna Casas//File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Tourists and residents drink on a street in Gracia neighborhood during a heatwave of the summer, in Barcelona, Spain August 19, 2023. REUTERS/Bruna Casas//File Photo
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Spain Set for Record Tourist Numbers in 2024 after First-Half Jump

FILE PHOTO: Tourists and residents drink on a street in Gracia neighborhood during a heatwave of the summer, in Barcelona, Spain August 19, 2023. REUTERS/Bruna Casas//File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Tourists and residents drink on a street in Gracia neighborhood during a heatwave of the summer, in Barcelona, Spain August 19, 2023. REUTERS/Bruna Casas//File Photo

The number of foreign tourists in Spain jumped 13% in the first-half of 2024, putting the country on track for another record year for visitor numbers despite growing discontent over the impact of the holiday industry in some tourist hotspots.
For the six months to the end of June, 42.5 million international visitors arrived in Spain, with the month of June alone recording a 12% rise to 9 million as the busier summer period picks up, Spain's data agency INE reported on Friday.
That means 2024 is shaping up to be another record year for Spain, already the world's second most visited country behind France, making it likely it will beat last year's high of 85 million tourists, when numbers exceeded pre-pandemic levels, said Reuters.
But for some Spaniards in the most popular destinations including Mallorca, Barcelona and the Canary Islands, there is increasing unease about the influx of tourists and their impact on housing costs and locals have staged protests.
Earlier in July, a small group of anti-tourism campaigners in Barcelona squirted water pistols at foreign visitors, chanting "tourists go home", a demonstration that created headlines around the world.
Data showed that tourists spent 12.3 billion euros in Spain in June, 17% more than the same month last year, helping drive economic growth, but highlighting the challenge for a government trying to find the right balance between tourism and local interests.
A lack of affordable housing in Spain has been partly blamed on a boom in holiday lets on platforms such as Airbnb and Booking.com.
According to the data released on Friday, tourists are increasingly opting to stay in rented apartments. The number of visitors in the first-half of the year staying in that type of accommodation was up 30%, while those staying in hotels was up 11%.

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Heavy Metal in Most Chocolates May Not Pose Health Risk, Researchers Say

A worker cools chocolate during a manufacturing process in Belgium, May 15, 2024. (Reuters)
A worker cools chocolate during a manufacturing process in Belgium, May 15, 2024. (Reuters)
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Heavy Metal in Most Chocolates May Not Pose Health Risk, Researchers Say

A worker cools chocolate during a manufacturing process in Belgium, May 15, 2024. (Reuters)
A worker cools chocolate during a manufacturing process in Belgium, May 15, 2024. (Reuters)

Concentrations of heavy metals found in single servings of some chocolates and cocoa-based products are too low in most cases to pose a health risk to consumers, research set to be published on Thursday in the journal Frontiers shows.

Some consumer groups and independent test agencies have previously reported heavy metal contamination in cocoa products such as dark chocolate, with possible causes being the type of soil where cocoa is grown and industrial processing.

Yet researchers at the George Washington University School of Medicine and ConsumerLab.com found that 70 of the 72 cocoa-containing products they analyzed fell below limits set by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for lead contamination.

They said the findings of their study showed the products may not pose a health risk when consumed as single servings, though larger portions could exceed strict California limits set in a law known as Prop 65.

The recommended single serving for chocolate is about 1 oz to 2 oz (30 gm to 60 gm).

"If contaminated products as a whole are consumed in small amounts and infrequently by most, these contaminants may not be a public health concern," read the paper, which concluded with a call for more testing of consumer products.

"In contrast, if many such products are consumed fairly regularly by the average consumer, the additive exposure may be a public health concern."

US chocolate industry group the National Confectioners Association said the research confirms that "chocolate and cocoa are safe to eat and can be enjoyed as treats as they have been for centuries."

The long-running research analyzed 72 products for potential contamination with heavy metals such as lead, cadmium and arsenic in four different cohorts in 2014, 2016, 2019 and 2022.

"Median concentrations of each metal tested were lower than even the conservative Prop 65," they added, referring to the strict California legislation on food contamination used as a benchmark for the study.

"However, consuming some of the products tested, or more than one serving per day in combination with non-cocoa derived sources ... may add up to exposure that would exceed the Prop 65 (limits)."

The researchers used the California legislation because it sets limits on contamination for the three types of heavy metals tested, while the FDA regulation only sets limits for lead.