Tourists feel safer in the Balearics

The director general of the Guardia Civil, Santiago López Valdivielso, said this week that tourists coming to the Balearics and Spain's seaside resorts are more worried about petty crime than the domestic terrorist war with the Basque separatist group ETA. Speaking at the FITUR tourism fair, the director general said, “Tourists are more nervous about pickpockets, car thieves and petty criminals.” A study carried out by the Ministry for Tourism, has discovered that 90 per cent of tourists coming to Spain and the Balearics consider the destinations to be some of the safest in the world “which makes the role of the Guardia Civil even more important,” said the secretary of state for Tourism, Elena Pisonero. Last year over 52 million tourists visited Spain and Pisonero believes that people's safety and security is very important for the tourist industry.