We are coming
I remember the times, there were so many, that We crossed Guadarrama towards Madrid with a barely immutable ritual: while my parents gave fire to those cassettes of Simon & Garfunkel and Mocedades, my sister and I were counting the seconds until we glimpsed the light, the light at the end of the tunnel.
It was not so much a metaphorical matter as a real one, for more often than not, the dense fog of Castile vanished after leaving the mountains behind. Now it is another tunnel that we are all crossing, damn darkness, but in the same way we have counted every second (it has been millions, it has been eternal) trusting in a light that finally, although timid, appears.
Yes, we are coming.
At the close of these pages, the Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility predicted that we will say goodbye to 2021 with a recovery of between 60 and 70 percent of foreign visitors. I wish. They take as a reference that already distant and phenomenal 2019 in which Spain broke its seventh consecutive record by receiving 83.7 million travelers. At that time, we boasted of being the second most visited country in the world, behind France and followed by the United States, according to UNWTO data. Today it's time to row together so that podium returns to its being, to even reach the highest step.
From Condé Nast Traveler we are already doing it, with humility but aware that we are the most relevant media speaker in the sector, because our unique way of understanding –and counting– travel as part of a lifestyle should also serve to be an active part of a necessary debate.
For this reason, on May 11, 12 and 13 we will celebrate the second edition of Condé Nast Traveler Conversations, a forum of ideas in which we will put on the table the new challenges of business travel and analyze recent paradigms such as digital nomadism, socialization, the development of smart destinations and staycations, or what is the same, staying on vacation two strides from home as a boost to the local economy.
There are many questions and we intend to solve them from the optimism with which we always go through each tunnel. Because there is light. There you have the one that illustrates our cover, the simple and exciting story of a family that has turned a boat into their home and also into a small tourism entrepreneurship business.
The sun also shines on the pages dedicated to Macaronesia, that group of archipelagos that we rarely call by name and that now, suddenly, seems like a nearby paradise. Everything shines, you'll see. So come on, fire up that favorite song, imagine your great journey and look at the end of the tunnel. Yes, we are coming.
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