Spain Could See Pre-Pandemic Tourism Figures By Easter
Spain News
Published: 14 October 2021 17:00 CET
Spain could see its tourist numbers return to pre-pandemic levels as soon as Easter 2022 according to a study carried out by tourism specialists Braintrust.
The company predicts that barring any new Covid waves and that borders remain open, the country’s tourism sector could well be back on the path to recovery by the time the next Holy week arrives.
It is estimated that the volume of tourists who will arrive in Spain would be “practically the same” as in 2019, with a total recovery of around 90% and close to pre-pandemic levels.
The firm points to an “exponential” increase in the number of international travellers over the coming months between now and April 2022, where volumes close to the pre-pandemic may well be reached.
Furthermore, spending by foreign tourists is also on the rise. Although the numbers are still far from what they were in 2019, the gap is “narrowing month by month”.
In January the total amount spent by tourists decreased by a whopping 90.3% compared to the same month in 2019 due to lockdown and travel restrictions. In August the variation had recovered further with the amount down by 49.6% to 5.9 million euros signifying a positive trend in tourist expenditure.
The countries that have been contributing most to the current trend are the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Germany, however, the lack of tourists coming from Spain’s most important market, the United Kingdom has impacted the country the most.
During the first five months of 2021, just 2% of the usual number of British tourists visited Spain. Although August’s numbers increased considerably, they were still only 32.9% of those seen at the same time in 2019.
By contrast, the Netherlands has been significantly better than most with August’s figures down just 9% on those in 2019.
The number of tourists from Belgium also jumped during the summer months, reaching 78% of the 2019 figure, with French and German tourist numbers remaining at around 60%.
Spain’s six most visited autonomous communities have seen a similar positive rise in numbers compared to 2019.
In August, the Valencian Community, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands and Andalusia recovered between 50% and 60% of their tourist numbers, while Catalonia and Madrid lagged behind with just 45.5% and 42.6% of their 2019 figures respectively.
Source
https://www.eldiario.es/economia/espana-alcanzar-semana-santa-cifras-turismo-extranjero-precovid_1_8396002.html
