The Spanish government yesterday announced the close of its Secretariat for Tourism as part of a series of measures to address its debt, just as the tourism high season approaches and as the sector struggles to recover from the loses of 2009. Tourism represents 10.5 percent of Spain’s GDP, 7.5 percent of its workforce and almost 20 percent of the country’s total exports. The  U.N. World Travel Organization issued an immediate response.

“The  strongly advocates the importance of building strong national tourism administrations which can fully maximize the potential of tourism to generate wealth and create jobs,” said Taleb Rifai, UNWTO secretary-general. “This has been recognized by many countries worldwide. Countries such as Argentina, Greece and Italy have all upgraded tourism to a full ministerial portfolio. It is not understandable that Spain, a leading tourism destination, would do the reverse.”