Tourism exceeds all forecasts in what is expected to be another record year. Exceltur said this Wednesday that it forecasts that the total turnover of the tourism sector at the end of 2024 will exceed 207 billion euros, 6.3% more than last year and 1.7% more than the previous forecast (4.6%).
These data, which would represent a contribution of 29.4% to the expected real growth of the Spanish economy for 2024, are supported by the good performance of the sector during the three months of summerin which turnover amounts to 77.156 million euros6,043 million more than in summer 2023 (4.8% more).
This growth was supported, to a large extent, by the strength of foreign tourism, which increased both in revenue volume (13.3% more than in 2023), inflows (up 7.3 %) and overnight stays (6.6%). .
Among the main countries of origin of these visitors, the growth of 47.2% tourists from Chinawhich reopened its borders in 2023 after having closed them for more than three years due to the pandemic, Japan (19.7%) or the United States (13.5%).
By sector, the increase in turnover of transport companies (8.8%), leisure services (8.5%) and accommodation (6.1%) stands out. Within accommodation, the growth in beds in 4 and 5 star hotels is particularly significant (they increased by 2.5% and 3.9% respectively) and the increase in turnover of urban hotels, which increased their revenues by 7.1% compared to 4.8% for hotels located in vacation destinations.
Accommodation for tourist use is also experiencing strong growth. As the director of Exceltur Studies, Óscar Perelli, pointed out, Today, there are 50,000 more tourist residences registered than last year.
By territory, it was Madrid, which grew by 16.2% in the third quarter and accumulated cumulative growth of 23% in the first nine months of the year, which achieved the best performance over this period . This growth is so pronounced that it may have driven neighboring communities like Castilla La Mancha (6.8% quarterly growth and 16.7% cumulative growth).
Island destinations also performed well (the Canary Islands grew by 8.8% and the Balearic Islands by 7.3%) and coastal communities such as Catalonia (6.4%) or the Valencian Community (5. 8%). Likewise, the city of San Sebastián, with 186 euros of income per available room, was the city with the highest hotel profitability. The capital San Sebastian was followed by Barcelona (154 euros) and Palma de Mallorca (134.50 euros) as the most profitable destinations.
More employment
These data translated into an increase in employment, since 79,000 more social security affiliates were registered in the tourism-related sectors than in the summer of last year, 3.6% more than in the same quarter of last year and 15.6% job creation in Spain during the third quarter. As Exceltur Vice President José Luis Zoreda pointed out, 91% of the people hired during the summer campaign are permanent contracts and the vast majority of them were hired full-time.
Zoreda also highlighted that the growth of four and five star hotels has been a boost for employment since the ratio of workers per hundred beds in this type of hotels (38.2 in the case of 5 and 17 hotels, 7 in the case of those of four) is much higher. higher than those with three (13.5 workers), two (10.1) and one star (8.4).
Furthermore, he warned of the harmful effects that reducing working hours would have on the tourism sector, the cost of which for the sector could amount to 2.438 million euros. “This measure could affect a million workers,” said Zoreda, who explained that tourism is a sector that requires presence and that the alleged increases in productivity through the use of new technologies that the government is referring to apply this measure would be “virtually imperceptible”. ” in this sector.
