of tourism for the Japanese market.
The second point is greater diversity. Many tourists to Spain come for the sun and beaches, so we are trying to develop other products so that they will come for other purposes. We also want to diversify by developing a variety of markets . This is one of the current strategies of the central government of Spain.
We have made several changes in strategy based on trends over the past five years . For example, the top tourist item in Spain was the vacation - that is to say - tourism for persons from Western Europe looking for the sun and beaches . We want to keep this form of tourism at the top, while also introducing other elements by developing new products . We also want to develop and utilize our tourist resources as effectively as possible.
I would like to talk briefly about the organization and functions of our administration for tourism. To begin with, tourism falls under the jurisdiction of the Vice Minister of Spain. As you may well know, Spain has a federal government for the most part. That is to say, local governments govern themselves to a high degree . Spain has 17 provinces, each with a comparatively high level of autonomy. Each province has a director of tourism. In matters of foreign affairs, the tourist bureau of the local government works in cooperation with the central government in managing various activities .
Spain has also a private sector. On a world scale, the tourist industry can be said rather professional. The tourist industry is organized as associations and federations. This configuration was born from the lobbying activities used initially to pressure the government into action. Today, they play a very important role in promoting tourism in Spain.
Therefore, the administration can be said to play two basic roles.
The first is to coordinate matters between the provincial governments and the private sector. While doing this, they also develop new tourism products and maintain the quality of tourism in Spain.
The second is to promote tourism in Spain abroad and direct tourism promotion for foreign markets.
Lastly, let me explain the roles of these various organizations.
First, there is the Tourism Research Association. Basically, they help draft tourism policy and measures by researching and surveying tourism. In other words , their studies aim at understanding
