Madrid/Oviedo (EFE).- Asturias will lead the growth of sales in the tourism sector in northern Spain this summer, with an increase of 23 percent, followed by the Basque Country, with 21.2 percent; Galicia, with 17.6 percent, and Cantabria, with 14.4 percent, according to a report presented Thursday by the Exceltur tourism alliance.
The report also places the Principality at the head of northern Spain in the recovery of sales during the second quarter of the year, with an increase of 27.9 percent compared to the same period in 2019, the year prior to the pandemic, followed by Galicia, with 19.3 percent.
According to Exceltur, tourist activity, which already grew at a rate of 11.2% in spring, will maintain its vigor during the summer although somewhat attenuated, with a rate of 10.9%, which consolidates the “intense” improvement in the sector , already at “remarkably” higher sales levels than before the covid.
Exceltur’s summer report presented this Thursday by its executive vice president, José Luis Zoreda, and by the director of studies, Oscar Perelli, advances a “generalized” optimism, product of the “powerful” response of European and national demand in the first semester, the growing presence of the American long-haul and the gradual return of the Asians.
None of the companies consulted by Exceltur for this study shows a change in perspectives in the remainder of the year, Zoreda has remarked.
Along with these factors, the consolidation of the segment of incentives, congresses and fairs (MICE) and the growing reactivation of business trips also stand out.
On the side of uncertainties, the decrease in disposable income of households and companies stands out, although the moderation in prices removes some pressure; the scenario of rising interest rates and the consequent tightening of financial conditions.
Tourism GDP, 13.6% more than in 2019
The evolution of the first semester and the good prospects for the summer raise Exceltur’s tourism GDP forecast to 178,831 million euros, 13.6% above 2019, the last record year, before the pandemic, although the effect has been eliminated inflation would still be 1% below then.
With this volume, tourism will represent 12.6% of Spanish GDP as a whole at the end of 2023 (two tenths more than the 12.4% of 2019), which had fallen resoundingly in the covid years.
International demand will consolidate its contribution in 2023, with which tourism receipts in Spain will exceed the levels prior to the health crisis for the first time and Spanish tourism consumption will exceed those parameters for the second consecutive year. EFE