Terrorism fear sparks record dash to Spain beaches

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HOT: Spain's beaches are a big hit

Sun-seeking families flocked to the Costa beaches this summer, smashing previous records.

More than 14million Brits were among 60m foreign visitors to Spain.

In July alone 9.6m UK visitors holidayed there – up 11% from last year. And another two million Britons went in September.

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HERDS: British tourists flock to Ibiza for their summer holidays

"Doubts about other holiday destinations and a relatively low euro have really helped in recent years"

Stephen Brown

The Costa del Sol, the Canaries and the Balearics – which include party islands Majorca and Ibiza – all reported a huge influx of Brits.

The bonanza followed recent terrorist attacks in holiday destination rivals Turkey, Tunisia and Egypt.

Stephen Brown, from research consultancy Capital Economics, said: "The tourism industry has been very good for Spain and, certainly in the short term, it is providing a boost to the economy.

"Doubts about other holiday destinations and a relatively low euro have really helped in recent years."

Safe travel destinations for Brits Sunday, 7th August 2016

The recent string of horrific terror attacks has left everyone worried about their own safety. And many people have already cancelled holidays to destinations like Turkey and Spain, following recent atrocities. Here are the safest destinations.

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Tuvalu - Situated in the Pacific Ocean near neighbouring Fiji, its extreme remoteness helps it avoid becoming politically aligned – meaning it's a safe destination for Brits.

Rafael Gallego, from the Spanish Travel Agents and Tour Operators' Association, added: "Between 12% and 15% of the tourists coming to Spain wouldn't have come were it not that those destinations competing directly with Spain for sun and beaches are closed due to tragic events."

Many Brits saw Spain as a safer option than the beaches of Egypt, Tunisia, and Turkey following the spate of terrorist outrages.

A Foreign Office ban is still in place on flights to the Egyptian Red Sea destination of Sharm el-Sheikh after the bombing of a Russian airliner a year ago yesterday.

Tunisia's tourism industry was dealt a devastating blow in June last year when a jihadi gunman killed 38 people – including 30 Brits – on Sousse beach.

People caught having sex in public Thursday, 20th October 2016

Members of the public don't seem to mind being caught having sex, so much so they're at it on the train platform, in shopping centres and even on top of buildings.

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And Turkey's popularity nose-dived after a failed coup was followed by a ruthless crackdown.

Even Spain's cities have benefited from the fall-out of terror atrocities in Paris, Brussels and Nice.

Visitor numbers to Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Cordoba and Valencia have all gone up.

Meanwhile back home, tourism in the UK is set to soar despite scare-mongering over Brexit.

A UKinbound survey reports 67% of businesses are certain that bookings and visitor profits will grow in the next year.

Source: Terrorism fear sparks record dash to Spain beaches