Aboehmer

I am looking to make plans for Spain during the last two weeks of July. I have not visited there before so all is new. But one of my primary concerns is the effect of the poor economy may have on tourism. Possible transportaion strikes, reduced staff at hotels restaurants and other loss of service. I understand the difficulty people are having and would love to provide tourism dollars and don't mind some bumpiness in the trip. However, I am worried about large issues dealing with the economy. Has anyone noticed any issues or have thoughts and opinions to share. I would love hearing them.

fmpden

Wow, talking about thinking of things to worry about. All travel involves some risk of things going wrong. Look at recent air travel delays because of our gov't's budget. You need to learn how to roll with the punches. With those kinds of thought I cannot think of anyway to assure you that there will not be big issues - what ever that might be.

Europeans have been going through economy roller coaster for years. I doubt if this year will be a whole lot different than last year or next year.

suec1

Who knows when the situation will improve? If it were me, I'd go..."the only trips I regret are the ones I did not take". I've loved every trip I have taken to Spain and hope to go again. So start planning!

Robert2533

You can expect more protest, it's only natural given the situation. You can keep an eye on any possible public transportation strike that may come along, but it shouldn't greatly affect your trip depending on where you're headed. Some restaurants have closed their doors, but most seem to be doing okay for the most part.

The biggest problem is the unemployment situation, now standing at 27%, but worse in the south, especially for those in their 30s and younger. Hopefully the movement against further austerity measures will have some effect on the current crisis and start to turn things around.

http://www.easytravelreport.com
http://madrid.angloinfo.com/informat...sport/strikes/

suec1

I would add that you can factor in "scooch room" to make sure that a strike would not be too big of a bump - for example if you are flying home from Madrid, getting there 2 or 3 nights ahead of time would give you some margin for making your international flight home just in case the trains do strike.

kimhe

Have been going to Spain (Andalucía, Madrid, Barcelona) two-three times a year since things started to go bad in 2008 (really bad since 2011), and even though a lot of people are really struggling now, it surprises me how much it's like business as usual, at least on the surface. Have been going to this wonderful country at least once a year since the late 80s.

chapla

I was in Madrid for 2 very rainy/cold weeks this Easter.The sanitation employees were on strike.Calle Mayor was closed as they walked to the Puerta del Sol.The metro went on strike but people carried on as usual.I did notice more homeless on the streets of Madrid.
I don't know about strike sin July but Madrid usually is very quiet as people go on vacation

Aboehmer

Thank you to those with helpful responses. I appreciate the input. I'd not be upset to lose a chance to visit a museum to to be a little crowded on a train. However, I would not like to be stuck in one city while my hotel reservation is in another.

asps

Well, in a September trip I barely managed to avoid riots in Madrid and Pamplona.

Robert2533

Riots in Pamplona! Navarrans in general are not afraid to speak their minds and Pamplonicas can be very vocal.

greg

I was caught coming home from Madrid on a general strike day last year. Luckily I was already in Madrid, so making to Madrid when the trains were drastically reduced was not an issue. But as someone mentioned, you do not want to rely on many things running on a critical leg. Then I had to figure out how to get to the airport when the public transits were barely running. Because of the strike at the airport, only a fraction of flights were operating. My flight was cancelled and I was on a phone most of the morning between the carrier that issued the ticket, the codeshare carrier that canceled the flight, and another codeshare carrier that replaced my flight. It was very useful to have a lot of internet MB left on my smartphone as well having a local Spanish SIM card on my phone.

ribeirasacra

greg you should be aware of the rules set out when travelling by air within and to or from Europe.
There was no need to waste all of that money and time.
There are posters all over Spanish airports detailing this.
Here they are on the web.
http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens...r/index_en.htm
The rules about strikes are clearly laid out for the Spanish. Notice has to be given it is over 30 days, but I cannot remember exactly. There has to be a minimum service too. So all out strikes never happen.
There are now EU rules about train passenger compensation rules.
http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens...l/index_en.htm
and bus compensation rules
http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens...h/index_en.htm

greg

There is a rule and there is a practice. 2 days before the strike I called the carrier,and the carrier said no official airport impact, so no flight changes. Everything was as scheduled. If I wanted to change the flight, all regular penalties applied. About 20hr before, I found out by going to the code share site that the my flight was cancelled. So all these calls were needed to find out just what then happened to my flight. About 8 hrs before my flight, I finally got an email about the change in flight. So perhaps I could have waited for the email. But then I would find out that the replacement flight would have left Madrid earlier than my original flight.

ribeirasacra

greg, That is precisely it. Iberia, in the last round of strikes posted on the internet the flights affected over week in advance. But like I as I have posted above information these are the rules. You have to wait until the carrier cancels. Jump too fast and and you have to pay.
Code sharing is confusing and the airlines play on that to blame the other. Do not be fooled by this.

SusannahT

We did not notice the austerity measures recently in Spain but it was near Xmas. We did miss a strike by a few days so we were counting our blessings.