SPANISH TOURISM DEMAND: GROWTH CYCLE AND SYNCHRONIZATION 415 Cuadernos de Turismo, 33, (2014), 415-417 Cuadernos de Turismo, nº 33, (2014); pp. 415-417 Universidad de Murcia ISSN: 1139-7861 SPANISH TOURISM DEMAND: GROWTH CYCLE AND SYNCHRONIZATION Mercè Sala Teresa Torres Mariona Farré Universidad de Lleida mercesa@econap.udl.cat, torres@econap.udl.cat, mariona.farre@econap.udl.cat Tourism is one of the most important growth factor in the Spanish economy. Along with France and the United States, Spain is one of the main recipients of international tour- ism flows. The annual arrival of foreign tourists amounts to over 50 million. Meanwhile, domestic tourism reaches values above 12 million annual trips. These figures represent an annual volume of overnight stays around 370 million, of which approximately 60% cor- respond to the inbound tourism and 40% to the domestic tourism. Thus, the contribution of tourism to the economy in terms of output, employment and foreign relations is very significant. The tourism sector contributes around 10% of GDP, accounts for over 11% of total employment and their revenues have covered an important part of Spanish trade deficit (77% coverage in 2011, for example). The aim of this paper is twofold. First, analyze tourism growth cycle in the Spanish economy, distinguishing between domestic and inbound tourist behaviour. On the other hand, investigate the synchronization between tourism cycles and economic cycles. The issue is of interest because it reveals the linkages that can be expected between tourism and economic activity. The conclusions will be important for future policy makers’ decisions. Different decisions have to be taken if it is found that tourism is ahead of the economic cycle and therefore has a drag effect, or if it is the economy that is ahead of the tourism cycle and pulls it. Similarly, decisions must be different if the cyclical behaviour of tour- ism demand of residents and non-residents achieves a high degree of synchronization or if instead it is observed that there are lags between cyclical phases. The tourism activity is approximated by nights spent in hotel accommodation and similar establishments (seasonally adjusted monthly data) distinguishing between nights spent by residents and non-residents. Economic activity is approximated by monthly data seasonally adjusted of the industrial production index (IPI). All data are obtained from the Eurostat database and the sample period considered is January 1990:1 to December 2011:12.