reactivation tourism Demand boom from domestic and foreign passengers and reaches an increasing cruise speed. rising prices. A good start to the year for the industry, marked by an excellent Easter Weekend, predicts a record-breaking year in which all records will hit all-time highs, after completing the recovery of pre-pandemic activity levels last year.
HE tourism GDP According to its newly improved forecasts, it will climb to a record level of 172,200 million euros for the full year, with a growth of 8% compared to last year and 9.4% compared to before 2019. Perfect, lobby that brings together the thirty largest companies in the industry (among them, Meliá, NH, Iberia, Globalia, Riu or Amadeus). Some records that will reinforce tourism as a national economic engine, contributing 12.3% of the entire Spanish GDP.
The increase in tourist activity is partly due to the increase in rates applied by companies. In fact, when the impact of the price increase is discounted, the sector’s GDP in real terms is still slightly below pre-pandemic levels (1.9% less), so given that prices for the whole of this year will be 11% above 2019 levels as a whole. To Exceltur research service.
In recent years, the self-created business of Spanish tourists, which has intensified their domestic travel due to the pandemic, has been the main support of the recovery, but now demand from international travelers is also becoming the mainstay of the resurgence. Industry and Government forecast foreign tourist arrivals to hit an all-time high this year, surpassing the international record of 83.7 million arrivals set before the covid disaster in 2019.
Price increase
Tourism companies are confirming significant increases in their turnover, thanks to the revival in activity as well as the rise in prices amid a wave of inflation. The tourism sector, which increased its prices by an average of 7.7% in the first quarter of the year, predicts that the rates will be revised with hikes of 3 to 4% until the end of the year.
“Fortunately, companies can raise prices,” he sums up. Exceltur Vice President Jose Luis ZoredaSeeing the increase in interest rates as a sign of the good course in the sector . For the sector lobby, price increases, responding to increased costs due to inflation, repositioning of higher quality and value-added products at higher ranges and meeting the needs of the groups to be met. Payment of debt accumulated during the pandemic period.
Despite the improvement in sales and the increase in prices, the Exceltur continues to grow, despite the fact that demand continues to grow. Does not translate into an increase in profitability For many companies due to the sharp increase in operating costs caused by the increase in inflation. Businessmen emphasize the unity that Companies can reflect only 20% of the increase in their costs to their rates.
According to the forecasts of the industry lobby, energy costs incurred by tourism companies in the first quarter of 2023 still increased by 17.4%, the cost of other materials increased by 14.3% and salary costs by 7.8%. Meanwhile, according to the data of the National Institute of Statistics, the average price increase in the sector was 7.7 percent.