Learn Spanish (Spain): El turismo es muy importante en España.

In Spanish, when you talk about a concept in a general or abstract way—like tourism, love, or science—you must use a definite article (el, la, los, las). English usually leaves the article out in these cases.

Why do we use es instead of está? Doesn't the importance of tourism change?

Even though importance can change over time, being "important" is treated as an inherent characteristic or evaluation of tourism here. We use ser to define qualities and facts, whereas estar is used for temporary conditions or physical locations.

Are all words ending in -ismo like turismo masculine?

Yes! Words ending in the suffix -ismo (which usually corresponds to "-ism" in English) are always masculine in Spanish. You will see this in words like el optimismo (optimism) and el capitalismo (capitalism).

España is capitalized here. Does Spanish capitalize places just like English?

Yes, proper nouns like countries (España), cities, and names are capitalized in Spanish. However, this is a great time to remember that unlike English, Spanish does not capitalize nationalities (like español) or languages.