Will the citizens of Barcelona revolt against soaring tourist numbers?
Even before the SNB sent the Swiss franc soaring, Swiss shopping tourists were spending around 10bn francs£6.8bnbn) abroad every year.
BEIJING — Soaring numbers of Chinese tourists packed onto flights out of the country is a sure sign that the members of a fast-growing consumer class of about 130 million are not worried that what will probably be the slowest year of economic growth since 1999 will sap their spending power.
SHIRETOKO NATIONAL PARK, Japan — Once prohibitively expensive, Japan is suddenly drawing soaring numbers of Asian tourists who splurge at the nation's department stores, lounge in its hot spring resorts or explore remote corners, like this stretch of pristine mountains and forests on Japan's northernmost tip.
The time was mid-afternoon, and with temperatures soaring, there were few tourists.
Japan's current account trade surplus plunged 57percentt in November, the Government said today, as the price of imported oil soared and Japanese tourists spent more money abroad.
All those down-from-towners have sent property prices soaring and — helped by coachloads of tourists — left no room for locals.
But prices soared, and the tourist trade since then has disappointed.
This oblivion has paid dividends though, and today it's a perfectly preserved collection of colonial mansions, elegant plazas and soaring churches with a still-tiny tourist industry.
The colourful basilica, with its soaring, ceramic-encrusted towers, became a tourist attraction and emblem of the city decades before it was due to be finished.
But the fire is heartbreaking for Parisians and the millions of tourists who have admired the soaring Gothic cathedral.
