Summer could not have come soon enough for Lloret de Mar , a tourist resort north of Barcelona that is brimming with young travelers from Britain , Germany , France and Russia . By day , they flock to the main beach with its steep descent into the Mediterranean , and by night they crowd the streets lined with clubs called Londoner , Hot Spot or Zoo . Read more : The human cost of Spain 's financial crisis . It is a scene repeated up and down Spain 's extensive coastline along the Mediterranean , the Atlantic and its famous archipelagos , the Balearic and Canary Islands . Spain 's economic crisis is in its sixth straight year yet tourism , worth 11 % of GDP , is holding its own , one of the few bright spots on a bleak horizon . Summer , of course , is high season for tourism in Spain . The country is the world 's fourth-largest tourist destination , behind France , the U.S. , and China , according to the UN 's World Tourism Organization , based in Madrid . Spain 's tourism sector has recovered from a 9 % drop -- a loss of five million tourists -- at the height of the crisis in 2009 . Last year , it was back to pre-crisis levels of 57.7 million international visitors . Interactive : Is your nation fair ? In part , due to an aggressive search for new markets , since the crisis not only forced Spaniards to cut back on vacations , but also slowed growth among British and German tourists , two of the traditional groups of visitors . Climent Guitart can tell you about that . He owns eight hotels in Lloret de Mar , and said , `` The last three years , we have tripled , multiplied by three , the number of Russians that come to this area . '' Like Katerina Kharina and her friend , both choreographers from western Russia , whom we met on the beach . `` Here it 's very different , '' Kharina said . `` There 's no crisis in Russia . Here it 's cheap . Russians like Spain . '' And Spaniards like Lidia Gonzalez may thank the Russians for her new career as a maid at one of Guitart 's hotels . A mother of two , the crisis forced Gonzalez out of her own hair salon business . Spain 's next threat : Losing 20 % of its economy . For months , she was among the 27 % of Spanairds who are unemployed , until the hotel hired her for the summer . `` At last this job came up and there was relief for the whole family , to be able to pay some of our bills , '' said Gonzalez , taking a break from cleaning a room . She and many others have contracts just for the summer high season , and many worry what comes next . Some experts worry , too , about the tourism industry 's future . They say that Spain 's tourism formula has been the same for decades -- sun and sand . But with the economic crisis , there are growing calls for that to change . Read more : Cyprus for Easter ? Just pack extra cash . A recent study by the Barcelona-based business school ESADE warns the country 's beach towns lack `` strategic improvement plans , '' and `` follow a stagnated tourism model . '' The report said 57 % of the country 's coastal towns offer less than five square meters of beach per tourist and remain highly seasonal , with 85 % occupancy in August but barely 35 % outside of the summer months . It called for new tourism products . Guitart 's company is already pushing innovation , trying to go upscale with a five-star hotel and casino in Lloret de Mar , while also maintaining some of its more typical mass tourism hotels . A generation on the scrap heap : Can Europe be saved ? `` We think that the clientele is diversifying a lot and in this area , I think we need a hotel with better standards , better quality , '' Guitart said . Breaking away from the popular tourism hotel model may be the future for Spain 's industry , but it wo n't be easy . Lloret de Mar , like many others in Spain , still caters to mass tourism . Just ask the young foreigners on the beach by day and in the clubs by night .
Spain 's economic crisis is in its sixth straight year yet tourism , worth 11 % of GDP , is holding its own . Spain 's tourism sector has recovered from a 9 % drop at the height of the crisis in 2009 . In 2012 it was back to pre-crisis levels of 57.7 million international visitors .