Catalonia received 20,055,314 foreign tourists in 2025, a record high, according to data published Tuesday by the National Statistics Institute (INE). Last year, however, growth in international tourist arrivals slowed, increasing by only 0.58% compared to the previous year, the lowest increase since the sector began recovering from pandemic restrictions in 2021. These figures are followed by the Canary Islands (15.7 million), Andalusia (14.5 million), the Valencian Community (12.4 million), and Madrid (9.1 million). Nationwide, the country saw the largest increases in international tourist arrivals. Last year, 96.7 million foreign tourists arrived., a figure that is 3.21% higher than the previous year.

The evils caused by phylloxera, a feared insect parasite of the vine, seemed like a story of times gone by. At the end of the 19th century, its advance brought down the European wine sector, but even today the formula that was found to keep it at bay is fully valid: instead of planting the vines with Vitis vinifera –European vine suitable for making wine– directly on the ground –on a free rootstock–, they are grafted onto American rootstock –roots of non-productive American vineyards– which prevents insect attacks from being fatal.

The Council of Ministers on Tuesday set the number of unaccompanied minors that each autonomous community must accept within the framework of the new legal regulations to address the arrival of refugees in the Canary Islands and Ceuta. The criteria are based on a decree law approved by Congress, and the Spanish government is already warning that, no matter how much fuss the PP presidents make, the transfers of the 3,900 minors pending distribution will soon be activated. In an interview on Spanish National Television (TVE) this Wednesday, the Minister of Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres, expressed confidence that all autonomous communities will comply and assume guardianship of the minors they receive under the mandatory distribution. However, in the face of possible resistance, he issued a warning: "If any community were to oppose it, the security forces should logically intervene. But I have no doubt that the presidents will comply with the law," he added.

The president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, has contradicted the statements made by the president of the Balearic Islands, Marga Prohens, and wanted to make it clear that "in no way is the situation in the Balearic Islands comparable to that of the Canary Islands", as you can read in the Chronicle by Anna Mascaró in itNow the Balearic IslandsIn Clavijo's tone—a member of the Canary Islands Coalition—one senses a certain binge of Prohensian demagoguery, constantly comparing the arrival of small boats on the Balearic coast with the massive influxes in the Canary Islands, or even with those on the Italian island of Lampedusa. Prohens doesn't care: everything is ammunition to fire at the Spanish government and the hated Pedro Sánchez (hatred on demand: at the headquarters on Génova Street they indicate who to hate, and with what intensity, and the PP delegations in each community begin to radiate hatred according to instructions). While playing the victim and making inconsistent comparisons, the Balearic president continues to govern with the far-right Vox, a significant part of the problem. She has had—and surely still has—the option of agreeing on policies with the opposition groups, the Socialists, and Més per Mallorca. But until now, Vox has always been chosen as a partner, and recently, in the mid-term review, it has strengthened its position. This is due to the fact that decisions on agreements and alliances are not made in the Consulate of the Sea, but in Madrid.

Ten migrant minors seeking asylum who until now had been in the Canary Islands are now on the Peninsula. This Monday, the Spanish government began the transfer of these young people, thus complying with the Supreme Court order requiring it to take responsibility for a thousand minors who, upon arriving in the Canary Islands, requested international protection and have been accredited. Sources from the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration explain that, following this first transfer, two weekly transfers of small groups of minors are expected, which will be carried out in coordination with the Canary Islands government. In total, approximately 800 unaccompanied minors will be transferred, sources from the ministry told ARA. The remaining young people, up to a thousand, are staying in the Canary Islands because they have preferred to do so for reasons of establishing a stronghold.

Five months have passed since the Supreme Court gave the Spanish government 10 days to take charge of 1,000 unaccompanied immigrant minors who are being housed in the Canary Islands and who have applied for asylum or intended to do so. But the central government's response has not yet arrived. Following a meeting between the central and regional governments held this Tuesday, it was agreed that the transfer of these minors to the Peninsula will begin next week, according to sources at the meeting.

The Spanish government hopes to begin distributing asylum-seeking migrant children currently in the Canary Islands among the autonomous communities by the end of August. This is the intention of the Ministry of Youth and Children despite the boycott by the territories governed by the People's Party (PP), which did not attend the children's sector conference this Wednesday where the distribution was to be directed. Except for the autonomous city of Ceuta, no PP government attended this Wednesday's conference in Madrid. The regions that did participate in the meeting were Catalonia, the Basque Country, Navarre, Asturias, the Canary Islands, and Castilla-La Mancha.

With Vueling's summer route between Barcelona and La Palma, the airline facilitates access to one of the most unique islands in the Canary Islands: La Palma. Known as the Beautiful Island, La Palma is a destination that has managed to protect its natural and cultural identity, escaping the mass tourism that has marked other islands. The inhabitants of one of the Canary Islands have managed to keep the culture of their territory alive, from traditional cuisine to popular festivals and the typical architecture of historic centers. Its commitment to sustainable development and authenticity has made it a benchmark for an increasingly conscious type of traveler.

The Spanish government and the Canary Islands executive have reached an agreement on the care of unaccompanied migrant minors who are on the islands and have requested asylum, according to sources from the Moncloa. This agreement comes three months after the Supreme Court established in an order that the State must include them in the international protection resources and three weeks after it threatened to sanctions politicians if they failed to comply.

This Wednesday, the Canary Islands experienced the umpteenth example of the migration drama. canoe A boat with dozens of people on board capsized this morning off the island of El Hierro as it approached the port of La Restinga to disembark. The vessel was carrying more than 100 people, including children, and Canarian authorities have confirmed seven fatalities: four women, a 16-year-old girl, and two five-year-old girls.

The Supreme Court's administrative-contentious chamber has accepted a precautionary measure requested by the Canary Islands government requiring the Spanish government to take charge of 1,000 unaccompanied immigrant minors currently being hosted by the autonomous community within a non-extendable period of 10 days.

The north face of the eruption cone of the new volcano on La Palma collapsed early this morning, according to Itahiza Domínguez, from the Instituto Vulcanológico de las Canarias (Involcan). The expert, according to Efe, has stated through social networks that the collapse has generated lava flows in several directions.

If you are very involved in social networks, surely these days you have started to see maps of sulfur dioxide dispersion (SO₂), animations that draw the possible movement of gas emissions from the La Palma volcano to the Peninsula. To what extent will it be possible to perceive the SO₂ of the eruption in Catalonia? At this stage there is no indication that it will be perceptible for the population. Although the wind dynamics will indeed be part of this sulphur dioxide flow towards the Peninsula, on the way it will be dispersed and will arrive in a much lower concentration than at the source. The levels of this gas will be higher in the upper layers of the atmosphere, but at the surface the increase of SO₂ may not be perceptible.

This is not Krakatoa. This is not even Mount Teide, Mount Etna or Mount Vesuvius. At Cumbre Vieja, on the island of La Palma, what we have is a volcanic edifice in the making, about which there is still more uncertainty than certainty. However, if we take into account the geological history of the island, what science says and what the models predict, it is hardly possible to speak of such a catastrophic outcome as those that have been circulating these last few days on social networks, most of them without any scientific basis. There will not be a giant tsunami that will reach New York nor a toxic cloud that will cause a nuclear winter on the European continent. The catastrophists will have to wait for another event.

The lava from the Cumbre Vieja volcano, on the island of La Palma, continues to open up towards the sea little by little and has already covered 153 hectares, which have been swallowed up by rocks, fire and ash. This is the calculation made by the Canary Islands Volcanology Institute (Involcan) based on satellite images captured by the Copernicus programme: the latest map shows the extent of the lava at 8.14 am on Tuesday. Compared to the previous one, at 7.50 p.m. on Monday, the area covered by the eruption has increased from 103 to 153 hectares, about 50%.

The lava from the cumbre Vieja volcano, on the island of La Palma, has slowed down its movement towards the sea: from advancing 700 metres per hour just after it erupted, to slowing down to 120 metres per hour on Tuesday. However, despite its slower pace, it has already entered the village of Todoque, a small municipality of about 1,200 inhabitants, which had already been evacuated due to the appearance of a new eruptive mouth. The villagers were able to enter their houses for a while to take some of their belongings: some took photos and paintings, and those who had more time loaded appliances and furniture, as the village could be wiped out by the volcano. "The lava swallowed the houses as if they were made of paper", a neighbour told Efe. So far around 165 homes have been destroyed.

Three weeks from now, if everything goes according to plan, Cumbre Vieja, on the island of La Palma, will be a new geographical feature that will barely exceed a hundred metres in height. It will be the product of the eruption that started last Sunday at around 3.18 p.m GMT and which will most probably continue to expel pyroclastic material and gases for between 1 and 2 months. As the eruption loses intensity, the lava will end up sealing the vents and the crater of the volcanic cone which will appear. We will have to wait a couple of years for the earthquakes to stop completely, and it will not be until then that the ground temperature will be back to normal and wild vegetation will begin to naturally repopulate what the rivers of lava have turned into devastation and desolation. This is the geological rhythm that repeats itself in the Canary Islands, which are of volcanic origin and where the third largest volcano in the world, the Teide, stands.

Slow but unstoppable, the lava from the volcano that has erupted on the island of La Palma is advancing towards the coast and could reach the sea this afternoon, at around 8 p.m. local time. In its path, the river of lava, about six meters high, "literally swallows" everything in its path, as explained by local officials: a hundred houses have been destroyed and the school of Los Campitos, in the municipality of El Paso, has been buried, as well as infrastructure and crops. The volcano is emitting between 6,000 and 9,000 tons of sulfur dioxide a day. So far, some 5,000 people have had to be evacuated due to the eruption on an island of some 80,000 inhabitants.

The last time there was an active volcano in Spain was in 1971 on the island of La Palma. That is until this Sunday at 15.12 h, when, on the same island, the earth started to shake, there was a big explosion, a large column of smoke rose and the volcano began to shoot lava at high speed over a pine forest. The eruption at Cumbre Vieja comes after a week in which 25,000 earthquakes have been detected in the area, which began at a depth of 20 kilometres but have been progressively rising to the surface, to the point that they have raised the island about 15 centimetres. So far, around 5,000 people have had to be evacuated on an island of around 80,000 inhabitants.

The Atlantic migration route, which connects the coasts of West Africa with the Canary Islands, continues to claim victims and is confirmed as the most lethal in the world. The latest known tragedy has a single survivor, who, aboard a precarious inflatable boat, watched as her 52 companions were dying. After seven days adrift, the woman was rescued when she no longer had much strength left and had to be transferred to a hospital in Gran Canaria, where she is in a serious condition but already on the ward due to severe dehydration from so many days in the sun and without drinking water.