Spanish tourism is preparing for a historic year. The sector, which recorded a record summer amid a boom in the number of domestic and international passengers and a sharp increase in prices, predicts that business growth rates will be even higher for the rest of the year. Forecast of the largest tourism companies on the Spanish market, grouped in the lobby ExcelturThe sector’s GDP will reach historic highs in full year 2023, breaking the previous record and remaining 16% above pre-Covid pandemic levels.
In the midst of so much good news, so much data, and things progressing so well as a whole, large tourist groups The sector has not yet managed to exceed the figures it would have achieved had there not been a complete halt of activities and collapse Almost absolute work during the pandemic due to movement restrictions imposed to control infections.
Despite the current historical rise, if the pandemic had not existed and with the growth path the sector continues, tourism GDP would now be well above the levels at which it would close this year. Specifically, forecasts from Exceltur, the lobby that brings together approximately thirty of the industry’s largest companies; Meliá, NH, Iberia, Globalia, Riu or Amadeus– According to the Tourism Satellite Account prepared by INE, they state that the sector is suffering. 222 billion euro hole since 2020 Compared to the predicted scenario if the pandemic had not occurred.
“Despite the proven capacity to reactivate, tourism activation in Spain is still below the level it would have achieved without the impact of the pandemic years; it did not earn 222 billion euros between 2020 and 2023 compared to “what would the potential be?” Exceltur reports on tourism perspectives for the last three months “According to the trend observed in the historical series, the production of tourism-related economic activity in the same period,” the report states.
Explosion after accident
The business association predicts that tourism is not slowing down and will continue to grow at a faster pace until the end of the year. HE Tourism GDP will reach a record of 183 billion 78 million euros during the yearAccording to its new upwardly revised estimates, it recorded growth of over 14.7% compared to last year and over 16.3% compared to pre-covid 2019 levels. According to Exceltur’s calculations, if there was no Covid effect, sectoral GDP would exceed 190 million this year and would continue to grow without the collapse experienced in the epidemic in previous years.
The tourism sector was reaching record revenue and demand figures in the years before the pandemic. Tourism managed to close 2019 with a sectoral GDP of 157 billion 355 million euros. Complete halt of activity during Black 2020 reduced GDP by almost 60%until it remained at the levels of the late nineties, only 64,573 million euros. Reactivation started timidly in 2021, reaching 97.127 million in activity; this is 45% more than the previous year, but still 38% below the pre-covid level. In 2022, the sector made a full recovery, exceeding pre-pandemic levels and reaching tourism GDP of 159,490 million; This figure increased by 64% in one year and increased by 1.3% compared to 2019.
All this loss of activity since 2020 and until this year is a reflection of what tourism could achieve in a scenario in which the growth trend recorded before the pandemic is maintained, a figure that Exceltur estimates at 222 billion euros, with large companies also corresponding to this figure. To emphasize that I’m holding on in the industryEven in the midst of a boom, the industry is still suffering the consequences of Covid.
If the strong growth in activity predicted for this year to exceed 183,000 million is confirmed, tourism will be strengthened as a national economic engine, contributing more than a fifth of the entire growth of the Spanish economy and increasing tourism revenues.Contributing up to 12.6% of the entire Spanish GDP, Equal to my weight before Covid.
price increases
The strong growth in tourism activities throughout the year was largely supported by an increase in the rates charged by companies across the board. Tourism companies confirm significant increases in their turnover, thanks to the recovery in activity and price increases that started in the middle of the inflation wave but continue to this day. Rates are well above 2019 levels, with an average of 18% more In all tourism sub-sectors
Price increase for tourist lobby responds to increase in demandThe need to respond to increasing costs due to inflation and the need for higher quality, more value-added products to be marketed with intense investments to be positioned in higher ranges, and companies also need to pay their debts. Accumulated during the pandemic.
Despite the improvement in sales and the rise in prices, demand continues to increase, Exceltur warns that this growth has not translated into increased profitability The sharp increase in operating costs caused by the rise in inflation in the last year has had negative consequences for many companies, as these increases cannot be fully reflected in prices. The costs of energy and other supplies borne by tourism companies have still risen more than 26 percent in the past two years, salary costs have increased by almost 20 percent and financial costs have increased, according to industry lobby estimates. 11 percent last year.