Voices en Español

The economic crisis in Spain has claimed another victim: the month-long summer vacation.

Spain essentially shuts down for the summer, particularly in the month of August, when virtually every Spaniard worth his chorizo, takes the month off and either heads to the beach or to the mountains. In recent years, before the global economy tanked, it was common for young Spaniards to travel abroad, many of them using their vacation time to study or practice English in the U.K., Ireland, Malta or the U.S.

But this year, with unemployment levels running high and money tight, many Spaniards are either canceling their vacations entirely or planning to take short trips close to home. Several Madrid businesses have already announced that they intend to stay open during the month of August in order to keep their operations afloat and make up for the reduction of revenue that they’ve experienced already this year. La Cámara de Comercio, Madrid’s equivalent of a Better Business Bureau, predicts that customers will see way fewer “Cerrado por vacaciones” signs in shop windows and estimates that less than 5% of  businesses will close for the summer.

Fortunately for those who decide to stay close to home, there are plenty of things to see and do and many of it free or discounted. Here’s the type of commercial Spanish tourism offices are running to entice Spaniards to vacation close to home:

Here is a random round-up of touristy events:

MADRID: Annie Leibovitz: Vida de una fotógrafa, 1990-2005

An exhibit of roughly 200 photos from this internationally-known American photographer on loan from the Brooklyn Museum in New York. Leibovitz is famous for her photos of celebrities. She was the last photographer to take pictures of John Lennon before he was killed and her iconic photo of a naked, pregnant Demi Moore for the cover of Vanity Fair still makes an impression 18 years later.  The Leibovitz photos will be on display in Madrid until September and is just one of several photo exhibitions currently going on as part of the Photo España 2009 event.

PAÍS VASCO: Las ballenas de Santurtzi

Whale watching trips in July, August and September on the “Pride of Bilbao” ferry from the port of Santurzi (near Bilbao) to Portsmouth, U.K.

NAVARRA: The 1st International Hemingway Doubles and Impersonator Contest

Writer Ernest Hemingway had a lifelong fascination with Spain and it’s mainly because of him why so many people outside of Spain are familiar with the San Fermin festival (the running of the bulls) in Pamplona. To mark the 50th anniversary of Hemingway’s last visit to the festival, the tourism bureau of Navarra is holding a Hemingway lookalike contest. The deadline to enter the contest has already passed but the finalists will be presented to the public in a kind of mini “beauty” pageant and then the winner will be selected on July 4, the day before this year’s San Fermín festival begins.

Also in Navarra…..tourists who stay at stay at least 2 nights at participating hotels in the region will receive up to four free tickets for different local attractions. Click here for more info.

ZARAGOZA: Los Festivales del Ebro

A series of 300 different events and activities during the months of June and July, including a concert by Madonna on July 25.