Nation's economy shrinks

The Spanish economy, eurozone's fourth-largest, shrank by 1.37 percent in 2012 and still suffers the effects of the collapse of a decadelong property boom in 2008. The Bank of Spain, the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund predicted the Spanish economy will contract further, by between 1.4 and 1.6 percent this year. Spain, where tourism accounts for 11 percent of the gross domestic product, received 89,523 Chinese tourists in 2009. Europe's second-most-visited country after France has set a target of attracting 1 million Chinese tourists by 2020.