Alex Trelinski
TOURIST industry body Exceltur says that the sector has ‘totally recovered’ in Spain after the Covid pandemic and has predicted a bumper year for revenues.
Exceltur’s Tourism Outlook report published on Tuesday says the sector’s GDP reached €159 billion in 2022- up 1.4% on 2019.
Speaking to 2,000 tourist businesses, Exceltur says this increase will be 4.7% on four years ago.
The report adds that 61% of economic growth in Spain last year was down to tourism.
Exceltur says the first quarter of 2022 was marked by higher energy prices and problems with supplies due to the war in Ukraine, as well as the Omicron Covid variant, but that from April there was a travel recovery, be it leisure, meetings and congresses.
The body believes that accumulated demand and the desire to travel have overcome the adverse effects on personal income caused by inflation.
Exceltur expects consolidation of an upward trend throughout 2023, and a return to normality in international mobility, especially that of Asian travellers to Spain, plus the loyal Latin American market, with a special focus on Mexican business, which rose by 80% last year.
The report pointed out that a big increase in domestic tourism activity counterbalanced the recovering foreign visitor market last year.
As for profitability, Exceltur said: “Business results will continue to be impacted by the still high energy, supply, and financial prices and increases in salary costs.”
READ MORE:
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