Spain | Domestic tourism: riding to the industry's rescue

Summary

Those sectors of the Spanish economy most dependent on the movement of people have been among the most severely hit by the COVID-19 crisis — in particular domestic and foreign tourism.

Key points

• Key points:
• The pandemic and the resulting restrictions on mobility led to a fall of over 30% in domestic tourist expenditure in 2020.
• Spaniard's eagerness to go on vacation again boosted the recovery in tourist expenditure in July with 7% growth over 2019.
• The positive fine performance of domestic tourism offset the fall in consumption by overseas visitors and enabled total tourist expenditure at the end of July to recover the levels of two years ago.
• The latest data for July shows a strong acceleration in expenditure in the Spanish archipelagos (especially the Balearic Islands), with more stable growth in the rest of the autonomous communities. Only in Madrid was this trend less pronounced.
• The growth of recent months is not yet enough to make up for that lost at the start of the year: so far in 2021 there has been a cumulative fall of 25% compared to 2019.

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