Spanish tourism loses $337 mn due to volcano

That figure does not include the losses suffered by the airlines, which are the main businesses affected. The sector is losing 42 million euros ($56 million) each day because of the air space shutdown forced by the widespread volcanic cloud, which will "disrupt to the downside" the results of tourist firms in the second quarter of the year, Exceltur Vice President Jose Luis Zoreda said.

Exceltur predicts, after an early portion of 2010 that had provided signs of a slight improvement in tourist spending, that Spain's tourism revenue will shrink another 0.9 percent this year.