Between June and September, approximately 50 million tourists – evenly distributed between domestic visitors (51%) and foreigners (49%) – will spend their holidays in Spain. This is excellent news for the Spanish tourism industry, which already sees the concrete possibility of surpassing the results of 2019 this year, definitively leaving behind the negative period caused by the pandemic.
These data are contained in the report “The Tourism Model at the Crossroads of Recovery”, elaborated by the Federal Technical Cabinet of the Spanish union Confederación Sindical Comisiones Obreras (CCOO).
After analyzing the Spanish tourism activity for the 2022 season and the very encouraging data from the first four months of 2023 (+2.3% of travelers and +0.8% of overnight stays compared to the same period in 2019), the study presents the forecasts for summer 2023: as mentioned, over 50 million arrivals are expected in the summer season, with 160 million overnight stays, 1.8% more than in 2019, with a predominant percentage of foreign tourism (60%) compared to Spanish tourism (40%), given their higher purchasing power and longer average stay.
2023 will be “a year that will break all records,” commented the Secretary for Institutions and Communication of CCOO, Marcos Gutiérrez.
Leisure travel takes the lead
In a very positive outlook for the entire sector, some differences are evident. The segment with the least progress is that of business tourism or MICE tourism (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions), which nevertheless maintains strategic importance for Spain, particularly in the cities where these activities are concentrated, such as Madrid and Barcelona.
On the other hand, holiday-focused tourism demonstrates excellent health, showing a more pronounced recovery compared to previous seasons. According to the study, there are two reasons for the growth in this segment: on one hand, the accumulated desire to travel after the restrictions of the health crisis, and on the other hand the increase in spending capacity due to the rise in the minimum wage and the increase in indefinite contracts after labor reform.
Restaurants, a less attractive sector for workers
Naturally, there are positive implications for employment as well: with peak activity during the summer season, the hiring of approximately 280,000 people is expected.
However, there are also some shadow areas: while employment in the hotel/accommodation sector is increasing in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the first quarter of 2019 (especially in 4- and 5-star hotels), there is a decline in the restaurant sector due to difficult and precarious working conditions. According to the union, in order to make the restaurant sector attractive again, it is necessary to guarantee wages that are a+dequate to the reality and improve working conditions.
CCOO calls on both public and private operators in the tourism sector to commit to a necessary transformation of the industry towards a sustainable and socially responsible model, focusing on quality employment, unlocking sectoral collective agreements, and restoring the purchasing power of workers in the sector.
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