The weight of tourism in the Spanish economy does not stop growing. If last year its contribution already broke historical records, with a generation of 186,596 million euros, 12.8% of the GDP, according to the Exceltur employers’ association, this 2024 tourism activity will once again break records. The entity that brings together the main companies in the sector estimates that the tourism GDP in Spain will exceed 200,000 million euros for the first time (specifically, up to 202,651 million), which would reach a participation in the economy of 13.3%. .
“With the estimated growth of 4.6% of tourism GDP in real terms for 2024, the sector will once again act as the main engine of the Spanish economy, growing almost three times what the Bank of Spain estimates for it today ( 1 .9%)”, says Exceltur in its report for the first quarter of the year and outlook for the tourist season.
The travel frenzy continues despite prices and the global situation, with activity that increased by 8.9% in the first three months of the year, with a growth of 5.3% in employment (106,000 new jobs in the sector ). All this, despite the fact that the bad weather during Easter caused the loss of part of the planned activity. On the positive side, the rains of those days improved water resources in areas on the brink of drought such as Catalonia, the country’s first recipient of foreign tourists.
“There was a continuation of the excellent evolution and the magnificent closing of 2023,” highlighted José Luis Zoreda, executive vice president of Exceltur. The increase occurred thanks to a greater influx of tourists, which rose by 12.4%, and not so much to the increase in prices, 5.9% according to their calculations.
Pending the evolution of the recent escalation of the conflict in the Middle East, companies in the sector expect to maintain their growth throughout 2024, although at more normalized rates compared to the dynamism shown at the beginning of the year.
The growth of sales in the first quarter was somewhat below that of tourist activity, which was 13.8% nominal and 8.9% real, as part of it was transferred to informal elements such as the use of non-public tourist homes. regulated or their own or that of family members.
The employers’ association has also warned about the “unbridled” growth of housing for tourist use. This beginning of the year results in almost 60,000 additional places in the 25 main cities, which is 25.1% more than in 2023, reaching a total of 287,000, exceeding pre-pandemic levels.