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Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.

He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.

In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.

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In the last 10 years everything Spanish or Latin has been considered to be very "cool", first in the States* then in other countries around the world. Remember the "Spaniard" in the Gladiator movie (starring Russell Crow), the hundreds of other movies and songs, blockbusters with Antonio Banderas, Christina Aguillera or Jennifer Lopez. So you won't be very surprised to see that people from different parts of the world are not only excited about the Latin pop culture but also are very thrilled to see the countries where this Latin culture originated - Spain and Portugal.

SPAIN

During the first four months of this year 12.2 million foreign tourists have visited the country (only in April they were 4.4 million). Canary Islands (deep in the south in the Atlantic Ocean) in that period remained the prime destination (one-third of the tourist influx). In the Spanish General Secretary of Tourism are expecting an increase of the foreign tourists in the whole 2001 by 4-5 percent.

Last year Spain was visited by 48.5 million tourists, mainly from Germany and the UK. For many years the tourist agencies are trying to convince the tourists that the Spain is first of all the culture, not the beaches, but so far the big money is going primarily to the shores and to the nearby attractions**.

In general Spain is placed among the first 3 countries in the world when it comes to the number of tourists just behind France and the USA. The local tourist industry plays the role similar to that of the US dollar in times of international crises. If you learn that somewhere in Croatia or Greece or Turkey there are problems of any kind during the summer season that may affect the tourists, you may be more than 90 percent sure that these who cancel their trip to these countries will go to pass their vacation in Spain.

PORTUGAL

For a very long time Portugal has been considered to be something like smaller-size Spain. And in general this is not far from the truth. Except the fact that the population is speaking different language (although from the same Latin origin) the history, the culture and the way of life of the two nations are very similar. In the similar way Portugal is stressing on the tourism for stimulating its economy. Just like Spain with the Canaries it has its own Azores Islands and Island of Madeira in the Atlantic Ocean that may be used as prime tourist destinations during the colder months. Accordingly Portugal also would prefer to see more tourists around the year visiting the castles instead of passing all day on the beaches during the hottest months.

Portugal stands in the top G-15 in the worlds when it comes to the number of the foreign tourists - 12 million in the last year. The number of Americans is increasing constantly - 280,000 in 2000. The incomes from the tourism are not negligible either - more than 5 billion per year.

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* - There is an easy explanation why Americans became so excited about the Latin pop-culture. The reason is that millions of Latin Americans moved into the USA during the last 2-3 decades. In other words, the Latin culture is considered not as a foreign, but as an increasingly internal way of life.

** - These attempts can be explained very easy too. In Spain (except in the Canary Islands) you have a sunny weather from April to October, so the facilities are half-empty for 4-5 months. Instead, the medieval castles and Arab architecture masterpieces can be seen year-round.

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See also the directory of companies providing real estate services in, and general real estate information of Spain and Portugal.