HE tourism closed a perfect Holy Week that managed to scare everyone. ghost related to economic slowdown. This desire to travel And to consume they pulled out as best they could generalized inflation after three years that marked coronavirus pandemic. HE spending with credit and debit cards Spaniards in entertainment and restaurants 23% recovered and in highly touristic activitiessuch as hotels or travel agencies, 15%.
This is clarified by the ‘anonymized’ data provided by work service Comparative research on the use of CaixaBank POS devices (point of sale terminal) in commercial enterprises Easter week this year with the holiday period that fell last year seven days later. Although these rates are positive growth trend observed in previous months. Inside in December and January the increase was 27% and 26% for each of these types of expenditures, respectively. Growth in these months may be affected by comparison with December 2021 and January 2022. coronavirus and its derivative ‘micron’.
The increase in spending on entertainment and restaurants was less this February, 12%; In March, it rose to 25% again compared to the same month of the previous year. contraction than explosion It is a war on consumption. And the same goes for spending in hotels or travel agencieswith a 10% increase in December, which followed a similar course; 18% in January; 7% in February and 18% in March. In any case, the strong growth in card payments is also related to the impact of inflation and high prices for all services.
This nice increase in POS expenses, Exceltur tourism lobby diagnostics confirming that “the year 2023 will be perfect” after a hiatus first quarter with “sales improvement” this brings the sector to 10.8% economic activity levels. Although, they warn, inflation is consuming all that improvement, literally stopping with a 1.5% drop in income, as the lobby’s vice president explains. Jose Luis Zoreda, this Thursday. Estimation of tourism companies integrated into this lobby, dynamism is preserved in “at least” next three months
general moderation
But it’s not all good news. by expanding the focus, total amountwith Spanish and foreign cardsperceived “Moderate” in April According to the research service of the Catalan bank, it increased by 7% compared to the previous months. Debit card activity is always a leading indicator of the economic situationbut in this case the figures should still be taken with care I’m waiting to find out your x-ray next weekWhen any Easter related effects are lost.
in relation to its activity foreign cards (less affected by the effect of the holiday week) continued to show signs of recovery. huge powerIt registered 28% annual growth in April, after increasing 32% in December, 48% in January, 30% in February and 29% in March.