The association Exceltur, which brings together the main tourism companies, predicts that tourism activity in Spain will maintain its growth throughout 2024, although at more normalized rates compared to the dynamism shown at the beginning of the year, mainly driven by foreign demand.
Tourism entrepreneurs expect an interannual increase in their sales of 6.1% on average between April and June compared to 12.4% in the first quarter, led by car rental companies, passenger transport, leisure and accommodation, in a context of moderation in the rise of prices (of 5.9%), according to the normalization of the market.
However, Exceltur maintains its forecast of year-on-year growth in tourism GDP for the whole of 2024, which, at the beginning of the year, placed it at 8.6% in current terms and 4.6% excluding the effect of prices (almost three times higher than the 1.9% estimated for the Spanish economy), with which it expects it to exceed 200,000 million euros for the first time (202,651 million).
In this way, tourism will "once again be the main engine of the Spanish economy", contributing 35.4% of its real growth in 2024 and reaching a participation of 13.3% in the national GDP.
Boost to employment
Likewise, the sector maintains its commitment to the creation of "more and better employment" in 2024, after, in March, the number of affiliates in tourism branches was 5.3% higher than in the same month of the previous year, which means 106,000 more jobs, driven by the accommodation sector, travel agencies and air transport.
The growth of sales in the first quarter was slightly below that of tourism activity, which was 13.8% nominal and 8.9% real, as part of it was transferred to informal elements such as the use of unregulated tourist homes or those of relatives.
