The tourism sector plays a very important role in the Spanish economy. And its prospects are positive looking ahead to the coming years, based on the different statistics available. That said, there are various elements which should make us reflect on whether the Spain’s tourism business is as well focused as it could be and if it is adapting easily to a changing reality.
Tourism spending in Spain in the month of July totalled 11.902 billion euros, up 16.3% from 2016 and, yet again, beating records. Accumulated spending for the year totals 49.119 billion.
I am the first one to say that we need to change the level of importance that tourism has in our economy, but the proportionate importance. Not get rid of the industry all together.
Spain is well on track for another record tourism year after welcoming 36.3 million tourists in the first half of 2017, a 11.6% increase from a year earlier, according to the Tourist Movement on Borders (Frontur) survey, released by the National Statistics Institute.
As the Easter week holiday kicks off, the positive outlook for Spain’s tourism and hotel sector augurs yet another record-beating season. During this week, the occupancy rate in some tourism areas in Andalucia will be almost 100%, while on the islands nearly 90% occupancy is predicted.
Aena has said that the airlines have increased their seating capacity in planes heading for Spanish airports this summer to 204,7 million, a rise of 8.7% from a year ago.
They say that governing is all about choosing (between what is bad and what is worse) and this government is once again facing a difficult decision: whether to lower AENA’s airport tariffs, thus benefiting Spain’s tourism industry which generates the most jobs, or do their own thing and make money. I say this because, obviously, the best way of making money is not to lower the tariffs AENA charges the airlines.
Germany is a country of travellers. Three out of every four people go on holiday at least once a year. And Spain is their main foreign destination: over 10 million Germans visit the country on an annual basis – spending almost 10 billion euros – running a close second to the number of UK tourists to Spain. Almost half of them travel with a package deal from TUI, world leader in the sector. Sebastian Ebel is the CEO of TUI Germany.
The latest figures from Spain’s airports manager AENA, reflecting the importance of the tourism industry, support the estimations given by the Secretary of State for Tourism, which point to a total of 74 million international tourists by end-2016. If the predictions are confirmed, there will be eight million more international tourists visiting Spain in 2016 compared to a year earlier, when there was a record number of 68 million. But can Spain’s tourism regions survive this widespread growth?
No day goes by without us being told how wonderful this year’s tourism campaign is going to be, in terms of the millions of visitors and the billions of euros it will generate. The tourism campaign is focused on the third quarter, when everyone and their aunt is getting sunburnt. There are many more jobs, workers are needed, and this is reflected in the increase in the number of hours worked, normal and extra.