![The Greeting At The Port](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/The_Greeting_At_The_Port.jpg)
Tourism in Gibraltar constitutes one of the
British Overseas Territory's most important
economic pillars, alongside
financial services and
shipping
Freight transport, also referred as ''Freight Forwarding'', is the physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it has been ...
.
Gibraltar
)
, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gib ...
's main attractions are the
Rock of Gibraltar and its
resident population of Barbary macaques (or "apes"), the territory's military heritage,
duty-free shop
A duty-free shop (or store) is a retail outlet whose goods are exempt from the payment of certain local or national taxes and duties, on the requirement that the goods sold will be sold to travelers who will take them out of the country, wh ...
ping,
casino
A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...
s and
marinas.
Although the
population of Gibraltar numbers only some 30,000 people, the territory recorded nearly 12 million visits in 2011,
giving it one of the highest
tourist-to-resident ratios in the world.
The
Government of Gibraltar
His Majesty's Government of Gibraltar is the democratically elected government of the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. The head of state is King Charles III who is represented by the Governor. Elections in Gibraltar are held every four ...
has sought to develop the tourism sector to replace Gibraltar's former dependence on the
British military, its chief economic mainstay until cuts in the
UK's Ministry of Defence budget led to the gradual run-down in the military presence after the 1980s. Gibraltar's marinas – one of which was the first to have been built in the region – have made Gibraltar an important hub for sea transport for over 50 years. A tourist boom began in the mid-1980s but stalled by the end of the decade before being boosted again in the mid-1990s by a programme of Government investment and marketing. The building of the new
Gibraltar Cruise Terminal, a new airport terminal,
pedestrianisation of key
streets
Streets is the plural of street, a type of road.
Streets or The Streets may also refer to: Music
* Streets (band), a rock band fronted by Kansas vocalist Steve Walsh
* ''Streets'' (punk album), a 1977 compilation album of various early UK punk ba ...
, redevelopment of historic buildings in the city centre and improvements to tourist attractions elsewhere on the peninsula have helped to increase tourist numbers considerably since the turn of the 21st century.
Development of tourism in Gibraltar
![Windsor Bridge, Gibraltar](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/Windsor_Bridge%2C_Gibraltar.jpg)
For much of
Gibraltar's history as a British territory, its economy relied on its dual status as a key British military base and a trading
entrepôt
An ''entrepôt'' (; ) or transshipment port is a port, city, or trading post where merchandise may be imported, stored, or traded, usually to be exported again. Such cities often sprang up and such ports and trading posts often developed into c ...
at the entrance to the
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...
. Tourism first became significant between the two
World Wars
A world war is an international conflict which involves all or most of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World WarI (1914 ...
and expanded considerably after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
due to the opening of Gibraltar's first marina, built in 1961, as it was the first in the region and began to attract increasing numbers of
yacht
A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...
s and
cruise ship
Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as ...
s.
[Archer, p. 64]
Gibraltar's tourist trade was devastated by the
Spanish government
gl, Goberno de España eu, Espainiako Gobernua
, image =
, caption = Logo of the Government of Spain
, headerstyle = background-color: #efefef
, label1 = Role
, data1 = Executive power
, label2 = Established
, da ...
's 1969 decision to implement a total closure of the
Gibraltar-Spain border as a consequence of the
political dispute over Gibraltar's status.
Visitor numbers collapsed over the subsequent decade.
The border was not reopened (and then only partially) until 1982 and was finally reopened fully on 5 February 1985. A flood of visitors poured into the territory after the border reopened; 45,000 people entered Gibraltar within the first week, rising to over 10,000 per day over
Easter
Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...
1985. Within only six months, a million people had visited,
[Gold, p. 68] rising to two million by the end of the year.
Air traffic doubled as tour operators began offering packages combining Gibraltar with the
Costa del Sol.
By 1986, five million visitors a year – 60,000 weekly – were arriving in Gibraltar. The airport resumed its role before the frontier closure of acting as a gateway to the Costa del Sol; 90,000 visitors came by air annually, of whom 22,000 headed on to the resorts of the Costa del Sol.
[Gold, p. 87]
To make room for the expected flood of visitors' cars on Gibraltar's crowded roads, 1,000 old vehicles were rounded up and pushed off the cliffs into the sea at
Europa Point
Europa Point (Spanish and Llanito: Punta de Europa or Punta Europa), is the southernmost point of Gibraltar (the southernmost point of the Iberian Peninsula being Punta de Tarifa 25 km southwest of Gibraltar). At the end of the Rock of Gibral ...
at the southern tip of the territory.
[Gold, p. 35] Despite this drastic measure, parking spaces were in critically short supply as over 1,000 vehicles per day entered Gibraltar after the reopening of the border.
The territory enjoyed a retail, accommodation and catering boom, though it came at the price of chronic traffic problems and threats to the environment, notably disturbances to the macaque and bird populations.
[Gold, p. 347] The number of macaques grew very rapidly as a result of (illegal) feeding by tourists, which also led to an increase in aggressive behaviour as the monkeys came to associate humans with food. The problems culminated in 2008 with the Government of Gibraltar ordering the culling of a rogue group of monkeys that was breaking into hotel rooms and scavenging in bins in the
Catalan Bay
Catalan Bay ( es, La Caleta) is a bay and fishing village in Gibraltar, on the eastern side of The Rock away from Westside.
Etymology
Although the origin of Catalan Bay's name is documented, a couple of theories co-exist. Documentary evide ...
area. The cull was protested by researchers and
animal rights
Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all Animal consciousness, sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their Utilitarianism, utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding s ...
campaigners but was justified by the Government on the grounds that the overly aggressive monkeys would frighten tourists and cause damage to the economy.
The running-down of the British military presence in Gibraltar in the 1980s and 1990s forced the territory's Government to carry out a major shift in its economic orientation, with a greater emphasis on encouraging tourism and establishing self-sufficiency.
[Archer, p. 2] By this time, however, tourist growth had stalled with hotel bed occupancy in the territory at under 30% in 1993.
[Gold, p. 149] Tourism became an important issue in the
elections of 16 May 1996. The newly elected
Chief Minister
A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...
,
Peter Caruana
Sir Peter Richard Caruana, (born 15 October 1956) is a Gibraltarian former politician who served as Chief Minister of Gibraltar from 1996 to 2011 and Leader of the Gibraltar Social Democrats (GSD) from 1991 to 2013.
Caruana is a barrister by pr ...
, pledged to revive Gibraltar's faltering economy by expanding the tourist trade.
[Gold, p. 171] The new Government carried out a programme of improvements to the port facilities including the construction of a new passenger terminal to welcome cruise ship visitors. New marketing initiatives were established, such as Gibraltar joining the
MedCruise Association to help promote the Mediterranean as a cruise destination and establish common standards for port facilities.
[Gold, p. 192] £5.2 million was invested in improving the airport terminal, while
Main Street was refurbished and pedestrianised. A number of old garrison buildings were redeveloped for leisure and retail use, notably the area around
Grand Casemates Square
Grand Casemates Square (colloquially Casemates Square or Casemates) is the larger of the two main squares within the city centre of Gibraltar (the other being John Mackintosh Square). The square takes its name from the British-built Grand Cas ...
, which was formerly used as a car park.
[Gold, p. 177] The tourism improvement programme led to a major increase in visitor numbers, which rose from four million in 1996 to seven million in 2001 and overnight stays also rose by 30%.
[Gold, p. 368] By 2006 tourism contributed more to Gibraltar's economy than any other sector,
[Archer, p. 70] with visitors spending an estimated £279.41 million in 2011.
In 2014, ''
Huffington Post'' placed Gibraltar on its list of 10 most "disappointing" tourist locations.
Visitor numbers and demographics
![EasyJet aircraft crossing Winston Churchill Avenue in Gibraltar](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/EasyJet_aircraft_crossing_Winston_Churchill_Avenue_in_Gibraltar.jpg)
In 2011, 11,940,543 visitor arrivals were recorded in Gibraltar, of whom 11,424,581 arrived by land, 351,534 by sea and 164,428 by air; the number of land arrivals excluding cross-border workers was 9,616,781.
Visitor demographics are dominated by
day-tripper
A day trip is a visit to a tourist destination or visitor attraction from a person's home, hotel, or hostel in the morning, returning to the same lodging in the evening. The day trip is a form of recreational travel and leisure to a location tha ...
s from neighbouring
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
– 90 per cent of visits
are made on excursions from Spain, either local Spanish people or Britons visiting or residing in Spain, many coming from the nearby Costa del Sol. A smaller number of visitors, mostly from the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, stay for at least one night in the territory.
The average stay is 4.1 nights as of 2011.
Tourism is generally year-round thanks to Gibraltar's hospitable climate,
with the August peak only about 50% higher than the January low.
The numbers and relative proportions of visitors have changed considerably over the last 40 years. During the years of the closure of the land border, the majority of visitors arrived by sea. The number arriving by sea remained fairly stable until the mid-1990s
but has grown considerably since then due to an increasing number in visits from cruise ships, over 100 of which now visit annually.
The number of arrivals by air rose through the 1980s to a peak of 62,438 in 1989 but stagnated for some years afterwards, rising only to 66,219 in 1996. Numbers increased substantially during the 2000s as low-cost airlines
Monarch
A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority and power i ...
and
EasyJet
EasyJet plc (styled as easyJet) is a British multinational low-cost airline group headquartered at London Luton Airport. It operates domestic and international scheduled services on 927 routes in more than 34 countries via its affiliate airli ...
launched flights to the territory. As of 2011, air arrivals constitute only about 1.4% of all visitors,
down from 38% in 1974 during the frontier closure.
Both air and sea traffic is dominated by British visitors; over 80% of departing air passengers leave for the UK, while 93% of cruise passengers are also British. By contrast, nearly 80% of day visitors by land (and thus effectively 80% of all visitors) are Spanish nationals.
Gibraltar's tourist trade is hindered by a number of factors. The small size of the territory means that there is an acute shortage of land for expanding tourist facilities and major pieces of infrastructure such as the Gibraltar airport. Accommodation (constituting hotels, guesthouses and self-catering facilities) is consequently limited.
Smuggling between Gibraltar and Spain remains a source of tension between the two governments and occasionally leads to long delays for vehicle traffic crossing the border during Spanish
Civil Guard crackdowns.
The ongoing political dispute with Spain has also hampered the development of transport links. It was not until as recently as December 2006, following the signing of the
Cordoba Agreement, that direct flights between
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...
and Gibraltar were re-established,
Air traffic had previously been obstructed (at previous times, flights to and from Gibraltar were not even permitted to fly over Spain) as the Spanish did not recognise the British sovereignty over the land where the airport is located and demanded a joint operation of it and the right to treat the airport as a domestic (Spanish) facility, but since the 2006 Agreement between Britain and Spain, air travel to and from Gibraltar has been conducted without hindrance.
References
External links
The Gibraltar Tourist Board London WebsiteDiscover GibraltarGibraltar Tourism Website
{{Tourism in Europe
beaches
A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shel ...