2023-07-23 12:24:39
He turismo accelerates towards a historic year in the midst of overwhelming growth in demand and also driven by rising prices. The reactivation of the sector after the collapse due to the pandemic was supported at first by the consumption of national clients, but this year a massive return of international tourists is being registered and the activity they generate has become the mainstay of growth.
From the sector it is taken for granted that the arrivals of foreign tourists will mark a new all-time high this year, surpassing the previous record of 83.7 million international travelers reached in 2019 before the collapse caused by the covid. And the flood of foreign tourists will also set a new record for the millionaire injection that they generate for the Spanish economy.
The country’s tourism income -what international travelers spend during their stay and which effectively affects the Spanish economy- will pulverize pre-pandemic levels and mark a new all-time high with 82,000 million euros during this year, according to the latest internal estimates that it manages He is exaltedthe lobby that brings together some thirty of the largest companies in the sector (among them, Meliá, NH, Iberia, Globalia, Riu or Amadeus).
The new level expected for this year represents an increase of 18% in relation to the 69,100 million euros reached last year and an increase of 15% compared to the previous record of 71.2 billion registered in 2019, the last full year without a pandemic. The greatest economic injection of foreign visitors is produced by the combined effect of the boom in demand and the rise in rates.
However, the income from tourism forecast for this year will exceed 1.4% the record levels of 2019 even in real termswithout accounting for the impact of inflation in recent years, according to updated Exceltur estimates to which EL PERIÓDICO DE ESPAÑA, from Grupo Prensa Ibérica, has had access.
The macro picture calculated by the large companies in the sector suggests that tourism GDP will climb in the year as a whole to a record of more than 178,800 million euros, with growth of 12% compared to last year and 13.6% more compared to the levels of 2019 pre-covid. The strong growth in tourist activity is boosted in large part by the rise in rates that companies are applying in a general way. And, in this case, yes, discounting the effect of the price increase, the sector’s GDP is still slightly below pre-pandemic levels in real terms. Without the impact of the rate increase, tourism GDP is still 1% lower than in 2019.
Record after record until the pandemic
Spain accumulated nine consecutive years of tourism revenue records until the pandemic cut short the progression. According to the records of the balance of payments of the Bank of Spain, in 2019 a historical maximum of 71,202 million euros of income from tourism was reached, which is recorded for practical purposes as if they were income from exports of the Spanish economy.
In 2020, with much of the year of total tourist stoppage due to restrictions on international travel, these incomes plummeted to only 16,177 million, with a collapse of more than 77% and with the lowest data in almost three decades (specifically, since 1993). In 2021, international travelers visiting the country injected 28.9 billion euros into the national economy, still 60% below pre-covid levels and remained at levels of the late 1990s. Last year the income, according to the Bank of Spainreached 69.1 billion, tying with the records of 2018, which has so far been the second best year in history.
The Bank of Spain calculates through the balance of payments the volume of income from tourism in the country, while the National Institute of Statistics (INE) prepares the Egatur tourist expenditure survey. Between both data, the income of one and the expenses of the other, there is always a million-dollar gap. And it is that in the INE survey all the expenses made by travelers are computed, not only the one that they actually make in Spain and that has a direct impact on our economy, but also includes the costs of transport that can be carried out with a foreign airline. In the case of the balance of payments, transportation costs are not included.
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