Three ideas to help get Spain back on track

Spain's stunning diet and lifestyle is a key ally in the country's charm offensive

It’s been a chastening few days for Spain. Unemployment has hit a record high of six million (or 27.2 per cent), the country’s population has started to shrink for the first time since the 1940s, and even its two leading football clubs – FC Barcelona and Real Madrid – have been given unprecedented 4-0 and 4-1 drubbings by that most ominous of rising powers, Germany.

Yep, Spaniards have probably had enough. But hold on a second. While jobs, security and football are massively important, Spaniards can still hold their heads high in many other respects; and here are three ideas that could help them – and others – remember exactly why Spain is such a wonderful country…

1 Promote health tourism

The much-vaunted Mediterranean diet is not only delicious, cheap to prepare and brilliant at bringing people together, it is also universally acclaimed as being the healthiest collection of foodstuffs around. Spaniards live long, happy, active lives in the sun – something the wealthier North Europeans would pay good money to enjoy. So why not invest in some more health spas, luxury detox retreats and good, old-fashioned marketing to reposition Spain as a destination for those who want to treat their body like a temple rather than a beer glass?

2 An App of appreciation

Millions of tourists flock to the Costa del Sol every year and head straight from Málaga airport to the beach resorts with barely a glance up from their smartphone as they tell the world (well, their jealous friends back in rainy ‘ol Blighty) that they’ve arrived. But what if, when they did arrive, they were able to download a free app from the Spanish Tourist Board telling them about all the brilliant things – besides drinking and sunbathing – that they can do while they’re here? Free, direct and written in a language they can understand, such an approach could help transform some of the Costa del Sol’s more overlooked – but no less brilliant – charms.

3 Go on the charm offensive

The UK became a horrible place to live in somewhere around the year 2004. Credit was easy to come by, property prices were surging and people were being paid inflated salaries for work that rewarded brashness and encouraged people to be selfish and mendacious. Credit-fuelled spending masked the impending crash, but when it arrived the people who shouted loudest and for longest found that they no longer ruled the roost.

So much so that today, the UK is an infinitely more peaceful, pleasant place to live – but it got there the hard way. Spain is now facing up to a similar, post-boom reality, so the Spanish government could take this opportunity to self-effacingly promote the country as a laid-back, welcoming idyll. Run ads in the British press. Tell the Germans that they’ll receive excellent service. And let the Scandinavians know that they’re more than welcome any time. It can’t hurt, and could help convince people that despite Spain’s problems, the people are still smiling and would be more than happy to see you. Because that last bit is as true now as it’s ever been.

These are just three ideas, plucked from my brain. I’m sure you’ll have your own and – I hope – the Spanish government does too. If not, they’re free to get in touch with me any time!