page_title: Tourism in the Basque Autonomous Community
section_title: Bilbao
hierarchical_section_title: Tourism in the Basque Autonomous Community / Tourist resources / Bilbao
caption_attribution_description: Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain.
context_page_description: Tourism in the Basque Autonomous Community has increased considerably in recent years. According to data from the Eustat the number of tourists entering the region in the year 2009 was 1,991,790, a figure which has improved over 2010, with the final result still pending. Of the people who visit the region each year, 71% come from the rest of Spain, with the following Autonomous Communities providing the greatest number of visitors: Madrid Autonomous Community, Catalonia. International visitors make up the remaining 29%, with France being the country which provides the most visitors to the Basque Autonomous Community. Furthermore, 62% of the people who come to the Basque Autonomous Community visit one of the three capitals, 27% visit inland and 11% the Basque Autonomous Community coast. The average stay of the visitors is 1.88 days, with Gipuzkoa being the province which records the longest stays, with an average of 2.01 days.
  In terms of the quality of the tourist services, 272 establishments are in possession of the Q award for high quality tourist services, the certificate which represents quality in the Spanish tourism sector.
context_section_description: Bilbao is the region's most cosmopolitan and densely populated city thanks to the transformations which, since the nineties, have helped to completely alter its character and appearance. Bilbao nowadays is a collage created by some of the loftiest figures of international avant-garde architecture.  The city in Biscay is composed of the titanium which protects the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, designed by Frank Gehry, the glass which covers the entrances to the metro, designed by Norman Foster, or the steel which makes new urban development challenges possible such as the Isozaki Atea Towers by the Japanese architect Arata Isozaki, or Bilbao Airport by Santiago Calatrava. Another of the city's attractions is the neoclassical Arriaga Theatre. Right there is the start of the domain of the Old Town or Siete Calles/Zazpikale ("Seven Streets"), the old part of Bilbao with its Plaza Nueva (New Square), Santiago Cathedral and, at one end, the Ribera Market. Also very close by is the Gran Vía, Bilbao's main shopping street. In recent years Bilbao has recovered both banks of the ria for leisure activities . Where in the past there were loading docks, today there are avenues with works of architecture such as the Calatrava walkway. Among its events it is worth highlighting Aste Nagusia, which is celebrated every year in mid-August, and the Santo Tomás Fair.
caption: Guggenheim Bilbao Museum
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