Tourism GDP in Spain closed last year with 159,490 million euros, 1.4% higher than in 2019, according to the quarterly report on ‘Tourist Outlook’ from the Alliance for Tourism Excellence (Exceltur), presented this Tuesday at press wheel.
This figure represents 62,363 million euros more than the tourist activity of 2021 and 2,135 million euros more than in 2019. Therefore, the contribution of tourism in the Spanish economy last year is 12.2%, improving 5, 8% from 2020, but below 12.6% from 2019.
In addition, tourism companies have recovered pre-pandemic employment levels in 2022, closing December with 1.4% above 2019, while they have reduced the levels of temporary contracts to historic lows, reaching 8.8 % due to the widespread adoption of the discontinuous permanent contract.
The recovery of the sector
In 2022, national demand has been the main support for the recovery of tourism activity after an increase in trips starting in April. In foreign demand, Latin American markets have had a strong impact on international sales.
By sectors, hotels, more vacations than urban ones, and industries related to leisure have been the most prominent, improving the turnover of 2019. On the contrary, the segments of transport, car rental and travel agencies have not recovered the pre-pandemic level.
As for 2023, the first Exceltur estimates place the tourism GDP at 7.1% above the year 2019, up to 168,453 million euros. Even so, this figure would be below the recovery of the rest of the Spanish economy.
