Spanish News Today Editors Roundup Weekly Bulletin Feb 14
TOP STORIES: "The rise of Volotea, Spain's alternative to Ryanair" & "Is this the end of Madrid and Barcelona flights from Corvera?"
Happy Valentine’s Day, everybody. Cupid has spread his wings and is gearing up to fire love darts left, right and centre. Well, in this week’s bulletin we’re also taking to the skies with some lovely news about Murcia’s Corvera Airport to delight fliers (although it’s not all good – it couldn’t be that perfect).
First off, though, there’s no love lost between this lot:
The rise of Volotea, Spain’s alternative to Ryanair
It’s been a turbulent few weeks for air travel in Spain. In a shock move last month, Ryanair announced it was pulling out of two Spanish airports entirely and slashing flights at five others, axing 12 routes and cutting a staggering 800,000 seats this summer.
But just when it seemed all was lost for travellers this coming summer, one Spanish airline has swooped in to save the day. Volotea, founded by Murcia entrepreneur Carlos Muñoz, has boldly stepped up, offering to take over every single one of Ryanair’s abandoned routes. And Muñoz didn’t hold back when addressing the situation: “The government should not worry, we are here,” he quipped.
The low-cost carrier, known for specialising in flights between smaller and mid-sized cities, has been thriving in recent years. In 2024 alone, Volotea saw a 17% increase in sales, bringing its total revenue to an impressive €811 million. And now, the airline sees a golden opportunity to expand further, filling the gap left by Ryanair’s retreat.
So, what exactly is Ryanair walking away from? The airline is completely shutting down operations at Jerez airport in Cádiz and Valladolid airport.
On top of that, it is removing one of its based aircraft in Santiago de Compostela and drastically reducing flights in several other locations: Vigo -61%; Santiago: -28%; Zaragoza: -20%; Asturias: -11%; and Santander: -5%.
This amounts to an 18% cut in Ryanair’s total capacity in Spain for the 2025 summer season. And while the airline insists this is a response to increased airport fees, some suspect there’s more to the story. And Volotea itself is part of the tale.
Spain’s Consumer Affairs department has just fined Volotea €1 million for charging passengers to carry-on luggage, a law suit that totalled €179 million and involved another four airlines. Ryanair received the heaviest sanctions of €107 million, and as a result has unleashed a barrage of criticism against Spain’s Minister for Social Rights and Consumption.
Ryanair has never been one to shy away from controversy and naturally, it’s not taking this lightly. Earlier this week, Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary held a fiery press conference in Madrid, during which he personally attacked Spain’s Minister for Social Rights and Consumption, Pablo Bustinduy, calling him the “crazy minister”.
But O’Leary didn’t stop there. He posed next to a life-sized cardboard cut-out of Bustinduy, complete with an orange wig and a clown nose. And, in true Ryanair fashion, the airline has now rolled out a cheeky promotional campaign featuring the same clown image, urging customers to “book now before a clown raises the prices”.
As Ryanair throws punches at Spanish regulators, Volotea is busy making big plans. The airline has already positioned Spain as its fastest-growing market, with a 9% increase in seat capacity scheduled for 2025, bringing its total to 3.6 million seats across 125 routes.
Among these routes are three brand-new connections: Asturias – Jerez; Barcelona - Bordeaux (France); and Bilbao – Palermo (Italy).
These results enhance Volotea’s financial standing as it continues to evaluate a potential initial public offering (IPO), a move that has long been part of its strategic growth plan.
“The outlook for 2025 is very promising, and we expect a significant improvement in margins,” said CEO Carlos Muñoz. While acknowledging that 2025 may be a slow-growth year for the airline industry as a whole, he’s confident that Volotea is on track to reach 80 million passengers this financial year.
With Ryanair scaling back and Volotea stepping up, Spanish travellers could be in for a very different summer travel experience in 2025.
Corvera Airport
There’s actually quite a lot of news about the Region of Murcia International Airport this week, so much so that it deserves its own section. This perennial underdog of the Spanish aviation scene has actually managed to kick off 2025 with a rare piece of good news, as passenger numbers are up by a solid 12% compared to last year, with 30,112 people passing through in January. International travellers led the charge with a 16.8% increase, while domestic flights also saw a respectable 6.3% rise.
Of course, the comparisons to the pre-pandemic glory days do put things into perspective (2020’s numbers were nearly double what we’re seeing now), but let’s not dwell too much on the past; at least the airport is moving in the right direction.
However, for how long remains to be seen. The flights to Madrid and Barcelona from Murcia’s airport, which are operated by none other than Volotea, may not continue for very long. In fact, tickets for these flights are currently only available until March and May, respectively.
These routes, which are part of a government-backed deal that threw €2.4 million at the airline back in 2023 to give them a go, managed to ferry 47,603 passengers over the last 14 months, which is not bad, but not quite the kind of roaring success that guarantees longevity. Volotea, flush from its record profits, now has to decide whether these routes are worth keeping, because it’s unlikely that another deal will be made with the government to keep them going.
As always, it is not the airport management team or the local government who have ultimate control over whether flights are offered to certain destinations. At the end of the day, it is airlines who operate the flights and it is they who will have the final say about whether they want to do it or not – and they only will if they see there is enough demand. So it is directly to the airlines that passengers should send their requests and petitions.
And yet, in a way, the local government is also heavily tied up in the success of the airport. See, back in 2012 (can it already be 13 years ago?!) construction company Sacyr, which was charged with building the airport, defaulted on a guaranteed loan, forcing the regional government to take on an unforeseen €180 million in debt. They figured that the airport project was just too big and important to be allowed to fail.
Now, by this time next year, the regional government will have cleared the remaining €137 million debt on the airport, a momentous occasion considering the total investment into the project has spiralled to around €300 million. It’s a heck of a lot of cash for an airport that has yet to shake its ‘work in progress’ reputation, but at least it’s a step in the right direction and they’re closing the books rather than adding new lines of debt.
With just over a month to go until the start of the summer flight roster – when the airport begins to add its usual bumper selection of flight destinations for the high season (excepting maybe Madrid and Barcelona!) – there is a glimmer of genuine hope for Corvera Airport. If the momentum continues, Corvera might actually start resembling the regional hub it was always meant to be.
Murcia
Onto a different kind of plane, now, and the skies over Murcia have gone blissfully quiet once again as the Spanish Air Force’s latest round of sonic boom-producing supersonic flights has come to an end. For the last couple of weeks they have intermittently been letting off startling BOOMS as part of the Tactical Leadership Programme out of Albacete Air Base, those periodical training exercises that seem designed to keep pilots on their toes and residents on edge.To their credit, they do at least try to keep the noise confined to certain restricted times, mainly weekday afternoons, and they do their best to tell everyone about it beforehand. So much so that they’ve already revealed when the next round of sonic boom training flights will be – not until September, in case you were wondering. Just enough time to invest in some earplugs for the dog.
Onto property, and the news has emerged that the relatively unassuming neighbourhood of Los Cuarteros in San Pedro del Pinatar has managed to outdo the entire country in house price increases, skyrocketing by a whopping 160%. While Madrid and Ibiza remain eye-wateringly expensive, this once-quiet corner of Murcia has suddenly become the darling of the real estate world, pushing up house prices faster than anywhere else thanks to its newfound status as a prime tourist hotspot.
And yet, the most expensive house for sale in the Region of Murcia is not in San Pedro, nor even at La Manga Club or on the La Manga strip. No, surprisingly, Murcia’s most expensive house is a rural estate in central Murcia’s Espinardo which is on the market for €5.5 million. It carries this hefty price tag not because it’s especially luxurious or anything. On the contrary, it’s actually quite normal and rustic. What it does come with is nearly 200 acres of land with endless possibilities, from agricultural ventures to future real estate development. In case you’ve got a spare 5 million burning a hole in your pocket and you want to invest.
On the coast of Cartagena – which technically takes in everything east of La Azohía and west of the bottom half of La Manga del Mar Menor – there will be fewer (but hopefully better) chiringuitos this summer. In an effort to up the quality of the municipality’s beach bars, they council is slashing the number of licences from more than 50 to just 33. They are also introducing a new bidding process that aims to weed out those who will only take cash and other dodgy operators, to ensure that the chiriniguitos there are match up to the high standards they (and we) expect.
With a renewed focus on aesthetics and sustainability (people bidding to run a beach bar this summer will get extra points if they have solar panels), expect a more modern, Instagrammable drinking experience in Cartagena.
Meanwhile, over in Roldán, a 94-year-old woman, a 49-year-old man and their dog had an unplanned and rather dramatic exit from their home when a fire broke out earlier this week. Local hero Craig Fame, upon seeing the smoke, did what any of us would (like to think we would) do – he kicked in the door and ran into the burning building. Unfortunately, the flames forced him back out, but he convinced the elderly neighbour living next door to get out and to safety.Craig called the fire services, who soon managed to extinguish the blaze, though not before two homes were destroyed. The dog, thankfully, made it out unscathed, though it’s safe to say it’s probably not keen on any future firework displays. Investigations into what caused the fire are ongoing, but in the meantime, Craig’s got a solid story for the pub.
To Puerto de Mazarrón, now, where things are being built rather than burnt down. This is the story that ground has finally broken on the fancy new panoramic, glass-walled lift project that connects the port clifftop with the beach. It’s been a long time coming and aims to increase accessibility for people with reduced mobility, as well as provide a sort of tourist attraction since it provides nice views.
It’s all part of the Mazarrón mayor’s grand vision for modernising the area, with the lift being just one piece of a larger plan that includes renovating pavements, improving lighting and sprucing up the surrounding parks and green areas. Give it six months and you’ll be able to ride in style, gazing over the landscape like royalty, assuming that it’s all finished on time.
In nearby Camposol, the long and winding bureaucratic saga of the Mazarrón Council taking over the public elements of the urbanisation continues. The notification process continues apace thanks to the efforts of volunteers who have stepped in to distribute the documents, and now it’s the turn of homeowners in Sector C to collect their official notifications.
To reiterate, it’s just a legal formality basically telling homeowners that the Council is taking over the roads and infrastructure to be able improve them in the future, so if that includes you, you can go along with your NIE and pick up yours so that improvements can begin to be made to Camposol as soon as possible.
And finally, on the area’s other golf resort, Condado de Alhama, there is a development concerning the lake at La Isla. If you remember, the poor body of water has been neglected for so long that last summer it became a stagnant, smelly health hazard, but now a recent meeting of local officials, conservation experts and town planning councillors has put into action the next stage of the rescue plan.
Proposed measures include removing the sludge, getting rid of invasive carp species and improving oxygenation to stop the whole thing from turning into a swamp again come the warm weather. What it needs is the ‘i’s dotted and the ‘t’s crossed i.e. a budget and a timeline drawn up to be able to actually go ahead and do what needs to be done. Hopefully sooner rather than later.
There’s plenty going on in Murcia this weekend, both Valentine’s-themed and not, so be sure to check out our EVENTS DIARY for more events and activities coming up soon around the Region:
Spain
If you’ve been to the supermarket recently, you’ve probably noticed that olive oil is still burning a hole in your wallet. This might come as a surprise, especially since reports have been buzzing about prices plummeting at the source thanks to a bumper harvest last year. So, if production costs are down, why isn’t that extra virgin goodness getting any cheaper for shoppers?Well, economists actually have a name for this frustrating phenomenon: the ‘rocket and feather’ effect. Prices shoot up like a rocket when costs rise, but when they drop, they float down as slowly as a feather – if they even fall at all.
And that’s exactly what’s happening with olive oil in Spain. Since 2021, a perfect storm of extreme drought, soaring production costs and the war in Ukraine sent prices through the roof. In just three years, supermarket prices tripled, despite government efforts to ease the burden by slashing VAT.
But 2024 brought some much-needed relief. Rain finally returned, improving the olive harvest and boosting supply. By the second half of the year, wholesale prices for extra virgin olive oil had dropped by more than 50% to an average of €4.20 per litre. Sounds great, right? But here’s the catch: supermarkets haven’t followed suit.
A report by consumer group Facua found that while wholesale prices nosedived, supermarket prices barely budged. Supermarkets argue that they bought much of their current stock at peak prices, meaning they can’t suddenly slash prices without taking a loss. They also claim that when prices were at record highs, they absorbed some of the cost rather than passing it all on to customers.
But the good news is that experts predict prices will finally start to stabilise in 2025. The Spanish government expects olive oil production to increase by 48% in the 2024-2025 season, easing pressure on the market.
It’s not just grocery prices squeezing household budgets in Spain – electricity and gas bills are on the rise too. And with energy costs soaring, more and more homeowners in Spain are ditching their old suppliers in search of a better deal.
According to the latest Household Panel report by Spain’s National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC), the number of homes switching natural gas providers doubled in just two years. In 2023, 14.4% of households made the switch, compared to just 7.2% in 2021.
Electricity switches are also up, with 13.9% of homes changing providers – that’s a 25% jump compared to previous years.
Needless to say, cost savings are by far the biggest driver. Around 80% of people who switched both gas and electricity suppliers said they were simply trying to cut down on their monthly bills.
But while switching sounds like a great way to save money, the process isn’t always smooth sailing. The CNMC report found that 12.1% of gas customers and 6.8% of electricity customers struggled with the switch, often facing confusing contracts or unclear pricing structures.
Even more concerning, nearly half (46%) of the survey participants admitted they don’t fully understand key aspects of their energy bills, making it even harder to figure out whether they’re getting a good deal or not.
Pet owners beware: Spain’s unusually mild winter has triggered the early arrival of one of the country’s most dangerous seasonal pests, the processionary caterpillar.
These critters, which typically don’t appear until March or April, have already been spotted crawling down from pine trees in vast numbers, posing a serious risk to pets and young children.
Authorities are warning residents to stay alert. The Guardia Civil took to TikTok to caution dog owners: “Be very careful if you see a processionary caterpillar. It has stinging hairs that can cause a very serious reaction.”
Meanwhile, the National Police posted on X: “The processionary caterpillar has come early this year and we must be vigilant in places where there are pine trees.”
These insects are notoriously dangerous. Covered in 500,000 venomous hairs, they release them like tiny poisoned darts when they feel threatened. For dogs, a single touch can cause severe inflammation, intense itching, excessive drooling and even tongue or throat necrosis if ingested.
Vets are urging dog owners to avoid parks and forests with pine trees. If you spot a procession of caterpillars, give them a wide berth, wear closed-toe shoes and long trousers and seek medical help immediately if you or your pet develop any symptoms.
From one tiny critter to a massive mammal: Morgan, the deaf orca rescued off the Dutch coast in 2010, is expecting her first calf. Loro Parque, her home in Spain since 2012, has confirmed the news, calling it a significant milestone in her journey.
Morgan’s story is both heartwarming and a little heart-breaking. Found stranded, malnourished and alone, she was taken in for rehabilitation in the Netherlands. But experts soon discovered she was profoundly deaf, making it impossible for her to communicate with wild orcas.
Declared unfit for release, she was relocated to Loro Parque in Tenerife, where she has been cared for ever since.
Her pregnancy was detected during routine health checks, though no details have been released about her due date. The park assures that Morgan is in good health and receiving specialised care, with veterinarians closely monitoring her progress.
While Loro Parque has framed the news as a positive milestone, it also reignites the ethical debate around keeping orcas in captivity. Since 1977, 70 orcas have been born in marine parks worldwide, with 30 others dying in utero or being stillborn.
Captive orcas typically live much shorter lives than their wild counterparts, who can reach 50 to 80 years of age. In the wild, orcas live in tight-knit family pods, passing down cultural traditions over generations. In captivity, they are placed in artificial social groups, raising concerns about their mental and physical wellbeing.
For now, all eyes are on Morgan as she embarks on this next chapter.
Alicante
It’s all planes, trains and automobiles in Alicante this week and believe it or not, it’s only good news!
First off, drivers who frequently use the motorway around Alicante city will be delighted to hear that the government has decided to keep the AP-7 ring-road toll free for another year, until February 2026.
Originally, tolls were scrapped on this busy motorway back in July 2024 as part of a trial project, which was then extended to February 2025. But after seeing huge success, officials have decided to keep the scheme going for another 12 months.The AP-7 coastal motorway stretches from Alicante, through Murcia and Andalucía, and the idea behind removing tolls was to ease congestion on the A-70, one of the city’s busiest roads. And so far, it’s done exactly that.
Since tolls were lifted, the number of drivers using the AP-7 has doubled, while traffic jams on the A-70 have dropped by up to 43% during peak hours. The results were even more dramatic during the summer months, with congestion falling by a staggering 74%.
But it’s not just commuters who are benefiting. The free-flowing traffic means fewer cars are idling in jams, leading to lower fuel consumption and a big drop in CO2 emissions.
Given the overwhelming success of the scheme, talks are already in motion to permanently remove tolls between Monforte del Cid and El Campello, a move that would make travel even smoother across Alicante province.
With faster journeys, cleaner air and fewer accidents, it looks like keeping the AP-7 toll-free is a win for everyone.
Moving onto flights now and Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport is starting the new year on a high, smashing records yet again by welcoming more than one million passengers in January for the first time in its history.
A total of 1,057,214 travellers passed through its doors last month, an impressive 10.3% increase compared to January 2024, which had previously held the record.
International passengers made up the bulk of this surge, rising by 10.6% to reach 891,101 travellers. As expected, the UK led the way with 296,539 arrivals, followed by the Netherlands (80,379), Belgium (67,608), Germany (66,290) and Poland (65,387). Meanwhile, domestic travel also saw a strong boost of 9.5%, hitting 165,688 passengers.
It wasn’t just passenger numbers breaking records - flight operations also soared, with the airport managing 7,123 flights, up 10.1% from last year.
This milestone continues the unstoppable momentum of Alicante-Elche Airport, which has consistently seen more than one million passengers every month since last spring. In 2024, it ended the year with 18.3 million travellers, making it the fastest-growing major airport in Spain, even outpacing Málaga in terms of annual growth.
And this trend is only gaining speed. While Alicante-Elche is currently the sixth-busiest airport in Spain, it’s quickly catching up with Tenerife (1.28 million passengers) and Málaga (1.37 million passengers).
For those who like the more scenic, relaxed mode of transport, there’s also some good news, as Spain’s Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, has confirmed that by 2027, the entire Valencian Community will be linked by high-speed trains, thanks to major investments in the Mediterranean Corridor project.This massive infrastructure upgrade has already seen a record-breaking 1.3 billion euros invested in 2024 alone, with key construction projects underway in Castellón, Valencia and Alicante.
Speaking at an event in Castellón, Minister Puente reassured passengers that while exact deadlines are still being fine-tuned, significant progress is already being made.
Later this year, the second mixed-gauge railway line between Valencia and Castellón will be completed, and the Valencia-La Encina high-speed line is expected to be finished within 18 months.
Meanwhile, in Alicante, work has already begun on six new international-gauge railway lines, set for completion by mid-2026. Once up and running, this new network will create a regional AVE, seamlessly linking Castellón, Valencia and Alicante, with potential stops in Xàtiva, Villena, Orihuela, Elche and Sagunto down the line.
Moving along to the hot topic of property now and new home construction in Alicante remained at near-record levels in 2024, despite a 4.9% drop compared to the previous year. A total of 8,353 homes broke ground last year, making it the second-best year in the last 15, according to the Official College of Technical Architecture of Alicante (COATA).
The final quarter of the year saw a decline in new housing starts but overall, construction activity remained steady, with a 3.2% year-on-year increase in the last six months.
So, where are all of these new homes being built? The Elche area and inland towns saw notable growth, while construction activity declined in Marina Alta, Marina Baixa, Vega Baja and Alicante.
The Vega Baja experienced a very significant 13.4% drop, with 3,315 housing starts, though the final quarter posted the best figures since 2019. Coastal towns like Orihuela, Torrevieja and Pilar de la Horadada saw declines, but San Miguel de Salinas and Almoradí grew.
Similarly, the Marina Alta & Baixa saw a 5.8% drop overall. Dénia remained the busiest area, while Benidorm and Villajoyosa saw an 80% decline. Calpe stood out with a jump from 62 new builds in 2023 to 328 in 2024.
Over in Alicante city, 1,508 new houses were built, down 14.4%, with the biggest drop in the final quarter. The capital saw a sharp decline, from 520 new projects in late 2023 to just 87 in 2024. Elche and other inland areas, meanwhile, are experiencing booming growth, with Elche up 34% and inland towns surging 91%, reaching the highest levels since 2008.
Torrevieja, Alicante and Orihuela led the province in new construction, though all three saw declines. Torrevieja topped the list with 748 new projects, followed by Alicante (695) and Orihuela (676).
While demand for housing remains high, supply isn’t keeping up, which could continue to drive up prices. Experts believe that 2025 will be another strong year, but unless supply increases, finding affordable housing in Alicante could become even more challenging.
Andalucía
Málaga’s Benalmádena was the site of a crime that left not only the local community but the whole of Spain reeling this week, after the shocking murder of a woman who was allegedly killed by her husband, who then set fire to their home with their children inside.
It was when firefighters turned up to extinguish the house fire that they began to suspect funny business. As soon as authorities arrived at the scene, the father of the family, a Nigerian man, claimed it was all a big accidental house fire, and that his wife was trapped in there, but his 11-year-old son wasted no time exposing his father, immediately contradicting him with the words, “Dad, that’s not true. You killed mummy.”
The grim details of the attack paint a picture of a premeditated act, with the suspect allegedly trying (and failing) to stage his wife’s death as a suicide by hanging before resorting to strangulation and then trying to cover his tracks by burning the place to the ground. Firefighters pulled the charred body of Lina, the victim, from beneath a pile of flaming mattresses like a funeral pyre and rushed it off to be tested for the cause of death.
If that weren’t horrifying enough, the couple had a history of domestic violence, and had been in Spain’s VioGén system, which tracks such cases. But her file had been marked as ‘inactive’, because it was deemed that no imminent harm was going to come to her.
Understandably, the community is outraged, and more than a hundred people gathered to demand justice for Lina. It’s yet another tragic statistic in Spain’s ongoing struggle against gender-based violence – 56 women murdered last year alone! – proving once again that the system designed to protect them still has serious gaps.
Onto more innocuous topics, now, and anyone driving along the A-355 road in Málaga recently may have been surprised to see a new red line painted in the middle of the road. This is the latest safety initiative from the DGT that aims to make it super, extra, doubly clear to motorists that overtaking across the existing double continuous line is a big no-no.
This new red line serves as a giant, visual slap on the wrist for reckless drivers along this stretch of road, which has been affectionately nicknamed the ‘road of fear’. Expect to see more of these thick red lines gracing Spanish roads in future, especially the ones where there are the most accidents from people overtaking illegally.
Over in Huelva, the storms from earlier in the week spawned a tornado-like waterspout that tore through the coastline, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. Power lines were ripped apart, trees were flattened and roofs collapsed as emergency services scrambled to respond.
The damage across towns like Pozo del Camino and Villablanca was extensive, while roads were blocked off. The DGT (who seem to be having a busy week) had to close the N-431 due to fallen trees. While Spain isn’t exactly known for its tornadoes, this storm was a stark reminder that extreme weather events are becoming more common and increasingly destructive.
¡Impresionante! La #DANA continúa generando ahora mismo fenómenos adversos en #España, concretamente en el noreste y suroeste #PenínsulaIbérica. Esta tarde (31/10/2024), manga o tromba marina en #IslaCristina (#Huelva). Si toca tierra sería un #tornado. Vídeo vía @Meteohuelva. pic.twitter.com/oycYOWkflA
— MeteOrihuela (@MeteOrihuela) October 31, 2024
Not to be outdone, the Earth itself decided to shake things up with a 4.9 magnitude earthquake near Ksar el-Kebir in Morocco. And no, Morocco is not in Spain, but the earthquake was strong enough to be felt across six Andalusian provinces.
No damage or injuries were reported, thankfully, but it was enough to rattle nerves in Seville, Cádiz, Málaga, Huelva, Jaén and Córdoba, where some residents called emergency services to confirm that, yes, they had indeed just felt the ground move. Given that Morocco suffered a devastating 6.8 magnitude quake in September 2023, killing thousands, authorities are keeping a close watch on seismic activity.
And last but not least, the infamous El Algarrobico ‘ghost hotel’ in Almería is finally (supposedly) going to be demolished. Built illegally in 2003 in the protected Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park, this eyesore that is instantly recognisable for anyone driving past the coast of Carboneras has been the subject of endless legal battles and environmental protests.
Now, after years of political posturing, Spain’s government has announced it will expropriate the land and tear the thing down within five months, though the affirmative action has raised the usual political sniping between left and right that seems inevitable in these cases. Can’t the politicians get their egos out the way for once and just let what needs to be done, be done?
Environmental groups like Greenpeace, who have been fighting for this moment for over two decades, will be watching closely to make sure there are no more last-minute delays. After all, if history has taught us anything, it’s that nothing in Spanish bureaucracy ever moves in a straight line.
You may have missed…
- Elderly British couple found dead in their Costa Blanca home.
An investigation has been launched into the death of an elderly British couple after their lifeless bodies were found in their San Fulgencio home on Thursday February 13. Social services staff discovered the bodies of an 82-year-old man and a 74-year-old woman in the popular expat community of La Marina on Alicante’s southern Costa Blanca. - Spain ranked eighth among countries most affected by extreme weather events.
A new report exposes Spain as one of the countries hardest hit by the climate crisis. - Drivers in Spain face fines for making certain hand gestures to pedestrians.
Did you know that what many motorists consider a sign of courtesy can actually be heavily sanctioned by the traffic police in Spain? - The new way that the Canary Islands want to limit tourist rental properties.
The Canary Islands government has launched the legislative process for a new Tourist Housing Law that aims to curb property speculation and prevent the rise of so-called “fake hotels” in the Spanish islands. - Spain’s population surpasses 49 million, largely driven by immigration.
Spain’s population has surpassed 49 million for the first time, marking an increase of nearly 1% compared to last year, and the driving force behind this growth has been immigration as the number of foreign-born residents has risen significantly while the native-born population has only seen a modest increase.
And there you have it for this week. Happy Valentine’s weekend, if you’re celebrating it, and stay tuned for your next Editor’s Roundup Weekly Bulletin next week.
Lots of love!
