2023-07-02 02:27:32
Holidays that are cut in half, cheaper national destinations, contained spending and reservations months in advance to reduce the holiday bill as much as possible. The rise in prices and the loss of purchasing power are the great brakes on tourism this summer. With vacation rentals on the beach 1,000 euros more expensive per month than in 2022, many families have had no choice but to cut their vacations away from home in half. A month’s rent on one of the Sanxenxo beaches costs an average of 8,000 euros in August, while on the Cádiz coast prices are around 4,000 euros per month. Traveling to coastal destinations is virtually impossible for a family subsisting on little more than minimum wage, but it’s also not easy for middle-class households with both partners working. “Everything is much more expensive and that has forced us to take almost half of our vacations,” says Ana, who personifies the decision that half of the Spanish population has made.
Specifically, according to the Rastreator travel comparator, 51% of Spaniards will reduce the duration of their vacations to avoid inflation and 36% would change the trip they had planned to make it cheaper. National destinations are particularly strong, with 24% of respondents preferring to stay in Spain, while 47% expressed their intention to travel to a European city. Those who opt for Spain choose Andalusia, the Valencian Community and the Canary Islands as the preferred regions to spend their free time. As for the type of accommodation, in this context of savings, renting an apartment or choosing a hotel with full board is more powerful. Thus, 62% of Spaniards say that they contract full board because they cannot afford to eat out.
The latest ObservaTUR report raises to two thirds the population that will opt for a national destination this summer to keep spending at bay. According to his calculations, each Spaniard will spend an average of 625 euros, continuing the upward trend that began in 2022, growing by 15 euros per person. However, this increase is notably less than that registered between 2021 and 2022, although it is below pre-pandemic levels.
For its part, the Celetem Observatory reports that 29% of Spaniards intend to spend less on their vacations this summer. This percentage, after several years of decline, increases six percentage points compared to last year 2022, in which it was 23%. Specifically, this study doubles the ObservaTUR figures. According to Celetem, the average cost planned for the summer holidays of 2023 is 1,174 euros, 1% less than in 2022, when it was 1,184 euros. In addition, this figure is 5% lower than the spending intention shown before the covid, in 2019, when it was 1,241 euros.
A recent report from the Spanish Hotel Confederation (Cehat) shows that prices have risen 9.7% since 2019 compared to 14.3% of general inflation, which, he pointed out, shows that hoteliers are sharing a part of the increase. During the presentation of the tourism ‘Smart Observatory’ for summer 2023, prepared by the PWC consultancy, the president of Cehat, Jorge Marichal, explained that given the price increase, Spaniards are choosing to reduce stays so as not to exceed their budget. “There are people who choose more to opt for long weekends, brush strokes,” he said.
8,000 euros of average per month for a month of rent in Sangenjo
Ana and her family are one of the many Spanish households that have had to cut back on their vacations due to rising prices. “Everything is much more expensive and that has forced us to take almost half of our vacations,” she explains to LA RAZÓN. She, her husband and her son usually went 10 days to the south and 10 to the north, but this year they have had to “sacrifice their stay in the north.” “Between the accommodation and the food, there is no one who does much, and that we are talking about national tourism, going abroad is for the rich,” she emphasizes.
José has had a bit more luck. After spending 10 years reserving the same house every summer on the Murcia coast, his landlord has decided to keep the price prior to inflation. An apartment on the second line of the beach for four people costs him 800 euros in July and 1,200 in August, although there is a catch: he has to pay for electricity separately, a supply that has skyrocketed in the last year. If in 2021 he paid 50 euros for a month of electricity, in 2022 the same bill cost him 127 euros. To top it off, his landlord has already warned them: next year the price of his vacation rental will go up. In that case, this family will have to forget about their vacations on the beach: “If they raise our rent by 200 or 300 euros a month, there will be no more beach.” Vacation rentals are skyrocketing and sold out. «Everyone has launched to rent like crazy. No for rent signs in weeks. For example, in La Manga, everything was sold out in March and a flat in the month of August costs 3,300 euros », he explains.
For their part, most young people do not even consider spending a month or two of their salary on a rental on the beach. The getaways taking advantage of the national transport discounts have become their oxygen ball. «This summer I will go to Valencia for a weekend and one to the Basque Country because the AVE costs us half the price. It’s all I can afford,” says Laura.
High demand and low supply are the main factor pushing rents up, along with more expensive supplies, which are usually included in the cost. The tourism sector agrees that we are facing the most expensive summer vacation in history. In Sanxenxo, the Tovar real estate agency explains that, on average, a three-bedroom rental on the beachfront of Silgar can cost 8,000 euros in August and 4,500 in July. Thus, prices double from one month to the next. According to this agency, prices for a month of rent have risen between 1,000 and 1,500 euros compared to 2022.
In Cádiz, the real estate agency AC Gestión also reports an average increase of 1,000 euros per month. While the average price of their vacation rentals was around 3,000 or 3,500 euros in 2022, this year the range goes from 3,500 euros to 4,000 euros. They attribute the increase to high demand: “They reserved everything between April and May.”
Hotels: record summer despite inflation
Inflation has not curbed the appetite to travel this summer, although it has caused a reduction in stays. Hotel chains have already sold 52% of their portfolio for the summer season, two points above 2022 and 17 points more than in 2019, with good figures both in the national and international markets, in which, however , there is a certain slowdown in the British and Germans, the main tourist-sending countries for Spain, says Cehat. With these figures, the Spanish hotel sector expects occupancy at the end of this summer season to exceed 80%, even above the record levels reached in 2019, despite inflationary pressures. The good trend of national tourism compensates for the brake on British and German tourism. In fact, the hotel sector has noticed an increase in interest even in cities, since the experience weighs more than the destination.
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