Editing Andalusia (section)

====Tourism in Andalusia====
[[File:Arcos de la Frontera, desde el balcón de la Peña Nueva.jpg|thumb|[[Arcos de la Frontera]], province of Cádiz]]
[[File:Ronda La Ciudad2004.jpg|thumb|View of [[Ronda]]]]
[[File:Puerto Banús 3.jpg|thumb|350px|[[Puerto Banús]], [[Marbella]], Costa del Sol.]]
[[File:Sierra Nevada Laguna skilift 6.jpg|thumb|Sierra Nevada Ski Station]]
[[File:Fuente de los Leones di Baeza.jpg|thumb|Fuente de los Leones in [[Baeza, Spain|Baeza]], province of Jaén.]]
Due in part to the relatively mild winter and spring climate, the south of Spain is attractive to overseas visitors–especially tourists from Northern Europe. While inland areas such as [[Province of Jaén (Spain)|Jaén]], [[Córdoba (Spanish province)|Córdoba]] and the hill villages and towns remain relatively untouched by tourism, the coastal areas of Andalusia have heavy visitor traffic for much of the year.

Among the autonomous communities, Andalusia is second only to [[Catalonia]] in tourism, with nearly 30 million visitors every year. The principal tourist destinations in Andalusia are the [[Costa del Sol]] and (secondarily) the [[Sierra Nevada (Spain)|Sierra Nevada]]. As discussed [[#Climate|above]], Andalusia is one of the sunniest and warmest places in Europe, making it a center of "sun and sand" tourism,<ref>{{cite book |author=Fernández, A. |chapter=Actividades y espacios turísticos |title=Geografía de Andalucía (Coor. López Antonio) |year=2003 |publisher=Ariel Geografía |location=Barcelona |isbn=84-344-3476-8 |language=es}}</ref> but not only it. Around 70 percent of the lodging capacity and 75 percent of the nights booked in Andalusian hotels are in coastal municipalities. The largest number of tourists come in August—13.26 percent of the nights booked throughout the year—and the smallest number in December—5.36 percent.

On the west (Atlantic) coast are the [[Costa de la Luz]] (provinces of Huelva and Cádiz), and on the east (Mediterranean) coast, the [[Costa del Sol]] (provinces of Cádiz y Málaga), [[Costa Tropical]] (Granada and part of Almería) and the [[Costa de Almería]]. In 2004, the [[Blue Flag beach]] program of the non-profit [[Foundation for Environmental Education]] recognized 66 Andalusian beaches and 18 pleasure craft ports as being in a good state of conservation in terms of sustainability, accessibility, and quality.{{Citation needed|date=December 2009}} Nonetheless, the level of tourism on the Andalusian coasts has been high enough to have a significant environmental impact, and other organizations—such as the Spanish [[Ecologists in Action]] (''Ecologistas en Acción'') with their description of "Black Flag beaches"<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ecologistasenaccion.org/spip.php?article11444 |title=Banderas negras 2008 en Andalucía |access-date=18 October 2008 |language=es |archive-date=26 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726013504/http://www.ecologistasenaccion.org/spip.php?article11444 |url-status=dead}}</ref> or [[Greenpeace]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.20minutos.es/data/adj/2007/06/26/702.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.20minutos.es/data/adj/2007/06/26/702.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live |title=Destrucción a toda costa |date=2 February 2007 |access-date=19 October 2008 |language=es}}</ref>—have expressed the opposite sentiment. Still, [[Hotel chains]] such as Fuerte Hotels have ensured that sustainability within the tourism industry is one of their highest priorities.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.accessibletourism.org/?i=enat.en.news.1097 |title=Responsible Tourism in FITUR, Spain – European Network for Accessible Tourism}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.andalucia.com/travel/environmentally-sustainable-tourism.htm |title=Environmentally Sustainable Tourism in Andalucia |first=Brenda |last=Padilla |website=Andalucia.com |date=18 October 2013}}</ref><ref>[http://sustainabletourismworld.org/fuerte-hoteles-devotedly-focused-on-responsible-tourism/ Fuerte Hoteles, Devotedly Focused on Responsible Tourism – Sustainable Tourism World] {{webarchive| url= https://web.archive.org/web/20151028163648/http://sustainabletourismworld.org/fuerte-hoteles-devotedly-focused-on-responsible-tourism/ |date=28 October 2015 }}</ref>

Together with "sand and sun" tourism, there has also been a strong increase in nature tourism in the interior, as well as [[cultural tourism]], sport tourism, and conventions.{{Citation needed|date=November 2014}} One example of sport and nature tourism is the ski resort at [[Sierra Nevada National Park (Spain)|Sierra Nevada National Park]].

As for cultural tourism, there are hundreds of cultural tourist destinations: cathedrals, castles, forts, monasteries, and historic city centers and a wide variety of museums.

It can be highlighted that Spain has seven of its 42 cultural UNESCO [[World Heritage Site]]s in Andalucia:
* [[Alhambra]], Generalife and Albayzín, [[Granada]] (1984,1994)
* [[Antequera Dolmens Site]] (2016)
* 10th Century Caliphate City of [[Medina Azahara]] (2018)
* [[Seville Cathedral|Cathedral]], [[Alcázar of Seville|Alcázar]] and [[General Archive of the Indies|Archivo de Indias]] in [[Seville]] (1987)
* [[Historic centre of Córdoba]]  (1984,1994)
* Renaissance Monumental Ensembles of [[Úbeda]] and [[Baeza, Spain|Baeza]] (2003)
* [[Rock art of the Iberian Mediterranean Basin|Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula]] (1998)

Further, there are the ''[[Lugares colombinos]]'', significant places in the life of [[Christopher Columbus]]:<ref>Decreto 553/1967, de 2 de marzo, por el que se declara conjunto histórico artístico el sector denominado "Lugares Colombinos" en la provincia de Huelva. He was laid to rest in Seville Cathedral.  [http://www.boe.es/g/es/bases_datos/search.php?coleccion=gazeta&frases=no&sort_field%5B0%5D=fpu&sort_order%5B0%5D=desc&sort_field%5B1%5D=ref&sort_order%5B1%5D=asc&OK=Buscar&operador%5B0%5D=and&campo%5B0%5D=TIT&dato%5B0%5D=lugares+colombinos&operador%5B1%5D=and&campo%5B1%5D=ID_RNG&dato%5B1%5D=&operador%5B2%5D=and&campo%5B2%5D=DEM&dato%5B2%5D=&operador%5B3%5D=and&campo%5B3%5D=ID_GAZ&dato%5B3%5D=&operador%5B4%5D=and&campo%5B4%5D=TIT&dato%5B4%5D=&operador%5B5%5D=and&campo%5B5%5D=NBO&dato%5B5%5D=&operador%5B6%5D=and&campo%5B6%5D=FPU&dato%5B6%5D%5B0%5D=&dato%5B6%5D%5B1%5D=&operador%5B7%5D=and&campo%5B7%5D=FAP&dato%5B7%5D%5B0%5D=&dato%5B7%5D%5B1%5D=&page_hits=40&sort_field%5B0%5D=FPU&sort_order%5B0%5D=desc&sort_field%5B1%5D=ref&sort_order%5B1%5D=asc BOE nº 69 de 22 March 1967.] {{Webarchive| url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927225104/http://www.boe.es/g/es/bases_datos/search.php?coleccion=gazeta&frases=no&sort_field%5B0%5D=fpu&sort_order%5B0%5D=desc&sort_field%5B1%5D=ref&sort_order%5B1%5D=asc&OK=Buscar&operador%5B0%5D=and&campo%5B0%5D=TIT&dato%5B0%5D=lugares+colombinos&operador%5B1%5D=and&campo%5B1%5D=ID_RNG&dato%5B1%5D=&operador%5B2%5D=and&campo%5B2%5D=DEM&dato%5B2%5D=&operador%5B3%5D=and&campo%5B3%5D=ID_GAZ&dato%5B3%5D=&operador%5B4%5D=and&campo%5B4%5D=TIT&dato%5B4%5D=&operador%5B5%5D=and&campo%5B5%5D=NBO&dato%5B5%5D=&operador%5B6%5D=and&campo%5B6%5D=FPU&dato%5B6%5D%5B0%5D=&dato%5B6%5D%5B1%5D=&operador%5B7%5D=and&campo%5B7%5D=FAP&dato%5B7%5D%5B0%5D=&dato%5B7%5D%5B1%5D=&page_hits=40&sort_field%5B0%5D=FPU&sort_order%5B0%5D=desc&sort_field%5B1%5D=ref&sort_order%5B1%5D=asc |date=27 September 2007 }}</ref> [[Palos de la Frontera]], [[La Rábida Monastery]], and [[Moguer]]) in the province of Huelva. There are also archeological sites of great interest: the Roman city of [[Italica]], birthplace of [[Roman emperor|Emperor]] [[Trajan]] and (most likely) [[Hadrian]] or [[Baelo Claudia]] near Tarifa.

Andalusia was the birthplace of such great painters as [[Diego Velázquez|Velázquez]] and [[Bartolomé Esteban Murillo|Murillo]] (Seville) and, more recently, [[Pablo Picasso|Picasso]] (Málaga); Picasso is memorialized by his native city at the [[Museo Picasso Málaga]] and [[Fundación Picasso|Natal House Foundation]]; the [[Casa de Murillo]] was a [[house museum]] 1982–1998, but is now mostly offices for the Andalusian Council of Culture. The CAC Málaga (Museum of Modern Art) is the most visited museum of Andalusia<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.andalucia.com/history/people/pablo-picasso.htm |title=Pablo Picasso, Andalucia {{!}} Southern Spain |website=www.andalucia.com |date=12 February 2014 |language=en-GB |access-date=4 December 2017}}</ref> and has offered exhibitions of artists such as [[Louise Bourgeois]], [[Jake and Dinos Chapman]], [[Gerhard Richter]], [[Anish Kapoor]], [[Ron Mueck]] or [[Rodney Graham]]. Malaga is also located part of the private [[Carmen Cervera|Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection]] at [[Carmen Thyssen Museum]].

There are numerous other significant museums around the region, both of paintings and of archeological artifacts such as gold jewelry, pottery and other ceramics, and other works that demonstrate the region's artisanal traditions.

The Council of Government has designated the following "Municipios Turísticos": in Almería, [[Roquetas de Mar]]; in Cádiz, [[Chiclana de la Frontera]], [[Chipiona]], [[Conil de la Frontera]], [[Grazalema]], [[Rota, Andalusia|Rota]], and [[Tarifa]]; in Granada, [[Almuñécar]]; in Huelva, [[Aracena]]; in Jaén, [[Cazorla, Andalusia|Cazorla]]; in Málaga, [[Benalmádena]], [[Fuengirola]], [[Nerja]], [[Rincón de la Victoria]], [[Ronda]], and [[Torremolinos]]; in Seville, [[Santiponce]].

=====Monuments and features=====
{{div col|colwidth=20em}}
* [[Alcazaba of Almería|Alcazaba]], [[Almería]]
* [[Cueva de Menga]], [[Antequera|Antequera (Málaga)]]
* [[El Torcal]], [[Antequera|Antequera (Málaga)]]
* [[Medina Azahara]], [[Córdoba, Andalusia|Córdoba]]
* [[Cathedral–Mosque of Córdoba|Mosque–Cathedral]], [[Córdoba, Andalusia|Córdoba]]
* [[Frigiliana|Mudejar Quarter, Frigiliana (Málaga)]]
* [[Alhambra]], [[Granada]]
* [[Palace of Charles V]], [[Granada]]
* [[Granada Charterhouse|Charterhouse]], [[Granada]]
* [[Albayzín]], [[Granada]]
* [[La Rabida Monastery]], [[Palos de la Frontera]] ([[Province of Huelva|Huelva]])
* [[Castle of Santa Catalina (Jaén)|Castle of Santa Catalina]], [[Jaén, Spain|Jaén]]
* [[Jaén Cathedral]], [[Jaén, Spain|Jaén]]
* [[Úbeda]] and [[Baeza, Spain|Baeza]], [[Jaén, Spain|Jaén]]
* [[Alcazaba (Málaga)|Alcazaba]], [[Málaga]]
* [[Buenavista Palace (Málaga)|Buenavista Palace]], [[Málaga]]
* [[Málaga Cathedral]], [[Málaga]]
* [[Puente Nuevo]], [[Ronda|Ronda (Málaga)]]
* [[Caves of Nerja]], [[Nerja|Nerja (Málaga)]]
* [[Plaza de Toros de Ronda|Ronda Bullring]], [[Ronda|Ronda (Málaga)]]
* [[Giralda]], [[Seville]]
* [[Torre del Oro]], [[Seville]]
* [[Plaza de España (Seville)|Plaza de España]], [[Seville]]
* [[Seville Cathedral]], [[Seville]]
* [[Alcázar of Seville]], [[Seville]]
* [[Almonaster la Real Mosque]], [[Almonaster la Real]] ([[Province of Huelva|Huelva]])
{{div col end}}