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MODERN MIRACLES
The areas where property and where it’s still good prices are growing the fastest in Spain value
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HEN Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu stadium hosted tour, all eyes were on the Taylor Swift’s Eras But for the football club thepop superstar. real star of the show was Swift’s concert marked the first occasion the ground the stadium itself. beit ‘unofficially’ - after was fully a massive revamp some announced. 10 years after the plans open - alwere first But now it has been ‘officially’ unveiled. It took €1.8 billion - about GMP Architekten, L35, and€1 billion more than initially planned - for architects public attraction, boasting Ribas & Ribas to transform it into a multifaceted a Real Madrid ces, and a skywalk offering Museum, dining and retail spapanoramic views. It also boasts a sliding ‘greenhouse’ where the roof and even an underground turf pitch can be retracted optimal growing conditions. for A striking feature of the stadium is its sinuous stainless steel facade. This metallic skin, designed to conceal the original concrete structure, gives the Bernabeu a distinctive, sculptural form. “The curved stainless steel the Bernabeu with a new louvres have imbued identity, solidifying its status as a Madrid landmark,” said a spokesman for GMP Architekten. “From afar, the metal facade shimmers like a jewel, reflecting light in countless ways.” Beyond aesthetics, the metal cladding serves functional purpose. Horizontal a louvres allow natural ventilationgaps between the for the stadium's interior. The renovation also increased seating capacity by 3,000 to 85,000, added VIP and hospitality lounges.
STILL GOING UP
O LIVE P RESS
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The minimalist theme of new Spanish churches
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PROPERTY prices are climbing ever higher in Spain as demand outstrips supply. Since 2019, only the Balearics tilla-La Mancha (€939), Extremadura have seen faster price rises than (€976) and Castilla y León cia, according to a report AndaluWhile Spanish authorities(€1,198). by BBVA ife, where seller expectations By Walter Finch urgently Research. rose by it stands at €4,477 try to build new houses, supply 18.6%, with Las Palmas sqm. is still Both new and existing homes (13.5%) sec- Across Spain ond and Malaga (12.2%) third. house prices rose by expected to fall short of meeting the creased in price by over 20% have in- from 2000. growing demand. 3.9% in 2023 and 4.3% in the first BBVA forecasts Despite the boom, BBVA since 2019. The Canary Islands has seen the By cities, the most significant rise quarter prices are yet to reach the estimates sharpest rise with houses being 16.4% was in Malaga, where prices grew by dicting of 2024, with forecasts pre- permits in 2024, 120,000 construction peaks of more expensive an a 5% increase in 2024 18.2%, followed by Alicante the previous real estate bubble and from the previous increase of 10,000 than (18%), 4.7% in 2025. year. The Soria (17%) and Valencia from It is followed by the a year ago. two decades ago. (16.1%). Balearics months of 2024 saw a 14.8%first four the Valencian Community (11.9%), The smallest rises were in Melilla According to BBVA’s Real Estate in permits growth Current prices are still (11.5%), Observatory 2024 report, compared to the same perikey factors od last year, those levels (8% for new 9% below the Community of Madrid (11.5%), (0.3%), followed by Pamplona (1.1%), driving indicating this Palencia (1.8%), Vitoria 10% existing) with only homes and Murcia (8.8%), Andalucia (8.7%). (2.1%), and economy, trend include a booming tion cycle driven by a new construcMadrid Pontevedra higher increased demand. and family incomes, de- However, By province, 45 have (2.4%). the Balearics having surpassed mand from challenges such as zoning prices a year ago, led by higher prices than The price of property in Santa Cruz de Tener- now Madrid is terest rates. foreigners and lower in- issues, labour shortages, €4,622 sqm, while in Barcelona tory uncertainty continueand regulaThe most affordable regions to hinder are Cas- new projects.
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MODERN MIRACLES
NOT SO SWIFT W
10 years on, Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu stadium renovation finally complete
The minimalist designs of Spain’s new churches
Chilling out
AUGUST 2024
Ibiza hotel takes inspiration from 60s California
HIPSTER HANGOUT
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Vol. 5 Issue 122 www.theolivepress.es August 22nd - September 4th 2024
We love you really! New poll shows majority of Spanish locals ‘value’ tourists despite wave of protests
RIP Maria SPAIN’s oldest woman in the world has died at 117. The family of Maria Branyas announced her death via social media on Tuesday. In a post on her X account they wrote: “A few days ago Maria told us: ‘One day I will leave here. I will not try coffee again, nor eat yoghurt…, I will also leave my memories, my reflections… and I will cease to exist in this body. One day I don’t know, but it’s very close, this long journey will be over. “‘Death will find me worn out from having lived so long, but I want it to find me smiling, free and satisfied’.” Maria was born to Spanish parents in San Francisco on March 4, 1907, but moved back to northern Spain when she was very young. Scientists last year took samples from Maria in a bid to discover her secrets to a long life – and to develop cures for diseases. She incredibly had no health complications other than hearing and mobility issues. The ‘Super Grandmother’, who regularly updated her followers on X, beat Covid in 2020 and had survived the Spanish Civil War, a deadly earthquake in the US and a major fire. The mantle of oldest person alive has now passed to 116-year-old Tomiko Itooka from Japan. See Viva España page 6
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DESPITE a summer of apparently endless anti-tourist discontent in Spain, the latest opinion survey reveals a very different picture. It shows that 69% of the populace across the country have a ‘positive’ or ‘very positive’ attitude towards tourists. And three quarters give the country’s tourism industry – critical to the economy – a glowing report, with 75% saying it has a positive impact on their town or city. The results might come as a surprise after images of fed-up Barcelona residents shooting holidaymakers with water pistols reverberated around the world. There have also been large ant-tourist demos in Tenerife, Mallorca and Malaga - although Valencia and Alicante seem to take a kinder view,
By Walter Finch
with no major demonstrations. In fact, the discontented few who exhibit the strongest turismofobia seem to be a miniscule segment of society, with only 2% expressing a very negative view of tourists. A further 4% said they viewed tourists just ‘negatively’. Meanwhile, a quarter of the Spanish population (25%) describe themselves as ‘neutral’. However, when you dig into the data some nuance does start to emerge. In the larger cities, such as Sevilla and Barcelona, the negative perception of tourists increases, with about 12% of residents expressing negative feelings. Even among those who don’t, almost half of the population (48%) see tourism as a growing problem in their city. And – perhaps tellingly – only 30% believed that their local governments were taking appropriate measures to tackle the negative effects of tourism. In these large cities, 66% of the populace are fuming about the local town hall’s inability to limit tourist rentals. In medium-sized cities, meanwhile, the negative perception is much lower, at around 4%, while a large SOAKED: Tourists in Barcelona were majority (60%) of the loshot with water pistols cals do not see tourism as a growing problem in the city. Overall, 59% of
people in Spain do not think tourism is a growing problem, compared to 29% who do. Only 8% of Spaniards think tourism has a negative impact in their town or city, although this grows to 15% in the large cities and seems to be trending negatively. To support that thesis, most of the impacts of tourism cited in the survey were negative: 43% found that rent had gone up, 35% believed the cost of living had risen and 29% blamed tourism for an increase in noise at night. On the other hand, 32% noted an increase in employment opportunities thanks to tourism and 19% thought it led to improvements in infrastructure. Other negatives were more congestion and crowding (26%), increased dirt and litter (22%) and further gentrification (20%). The results came in a YouGov poll
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which was part of a report entitled Impact of Tourism on the Resident Population. It surveyed 1,027 people around the country at the start of June. “There is a certain segment of the local population that feels overwhelmed by tourism, confirming what has been appearing in the news in recent months,” the report admits.
Neglect
However, the ‘growth of employment opportunities and infrastructure development in cities’ have been listed as a plus side that offsets this negative sentiment. “But the authorities must also remain vigilant and take measures to ensure that aspects such as public transportation, safety, and especially the proliferation of tourist accommodations do not neglect the needs of the residents,” it warns.
A BANNER opposing mass tourism appeared for the first time on a Costa Blanca beach on Sunday. The 15-metre-long display was unfurled at the northern end of Javea’s Cala La Barraca. It was done at the initiative of the local anti-tourism group, Garrot. A group spokesperson said that the beach ‘clearly symbolises’ the ‘perversion and trivialisation’ of mass tourism. “Tourism is not a blessing but a curse that devastates everything it touches,” he added. The protest follows a string of demos around Spain in places like Tenerife, Mallorca, Barcelona and Malaga that have attracted tens of thousands of people. So far, Alicante has been largely untouched by the movement.