Conclusion

Abstract

One of the first and most memorable — at least for Spaniards — slogans projecting the tourist image of Spain to the rest of the world was ‘Spain is different’. Used in the 1950s and 1960s, it became fixed in Spaniards’ memories, and even today it is commonly used to justify aspects about which Spanish people find it difficult to reconcile with the standards and lifestyles of their European neighbours. Recently, El País newspaper published an interesting and thorough report with this same title (El País, 1 June 2014), describing the 11 distinctive traits of current Spain. As would be expected, the list of unfavourable traits was not brief and included aspects related to the high rate of unemployment currently battering the country, the enormous increase in social inequality registered in recent years, the lack of cultural investment and consumption, the high rates of consumption of cannabis and cocaine, the high cost of communications services (telephone, internet), and the maintenance of work schedules that, to simplify, could be described as inconvenient. Along with these traits, other more positive ones were mentioned, such as the high number of smartphone users, the high life expectancy at birth, the high level of tolerance toward divorce and homosexuality, the low homicide rate, and the possession of a most extensive high-speed train network.