Two workers place an information sign on the beach of Alcúdia, in Mallorca, on May 12 CATI CLADERA / EFE
The Spanish tourism sector headed into the summer season at the most critical moment in its history. Between January and June of this year, 5.4 million international tourists traveled to Spain, as published on Tuesday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE). This is half that of the same date of the previous year (10.7 million) and very far from the figures of 2019 (38.1 million). It is also the worst semester since there are monthly records - the statistics for Turespaña and the INE began in 2000. Regarding spending, there is also no truce and the fall is similar: between January and June, foreign visitors spent 5,765 million euros, half that of last year and 85% less than in the same period of 2019.
The coronavirus crisis began to hit hard in mid-March of last year.
And since then, the industry has survived with greatly reduced income, thanks, among other things, to public support in the form of temporary employment regulation files (ERTE), ICO credits and awaiting the arrival of the long-awaited direct aid announced in March.
2020 left the lowest level of international arrivals in half a century and the first half of this year has upped the ante with the worst first six months of the century.
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If you look at the monthly evolution, the trend is very positive.
2.2 million foreign tourists arrived in Spain in June, almost double than in May and 984.7% more than in the same month of 2020. A very high increase that is explained because then the borders were closed to lime and singing for leisure mobility until the end of June.
With these data, the improvement in recent months is undoubted, although if put in context with the levels prior to the pandemic it is still far below and it is difficult to speak of recovery.
For example, in June 2019 8.8 million travelers visited the country, more than in the entire first half of this year.
In addition, in the data on hotel and non-hotel overnight stays, the accumulated data for the first half of the year are not promising in comparison with pre-covid levels. If we look at the overnight stays of national tourists - they have recovered more and this is what the sector is grasping to save the season - and of foreigners, between January and June there were 51.7 million overnight stays. This is almost 74% less than in 2019.
Of course, this indicator - very accurate on the health of the sector and employment, since it adds up the nights spent in travelers' accommodation - gives some hope in comparison with last year.
In this case, the gap in the first six months is only 14%.
This is explained by several reasons: then the accommodations were closed from mid-March until almost the end of the semester, so it was only able to operate the first two months and part of March.
Although it must also be taken into account that in the first half of 2021, movements between autonomous communities were limited (even between provinces in regions such as Andalusia) and international arrivals were minimal due to the waves of coronavirus infections and the restrictions in force in the source markets.
France and Germany, the great fishing grounds for travelers
By place of origin, travelers living in France and Germany have been the ones that have pushed the most. From the neighboring country 1,187 million people visited Spain in the first semester, while from the Germanic country 1,169 million did. Both markets were almost on par and the great absentee at the top of this classification is the United Kingdom (only 273,333 people traveled to Spain in this period). This is explained by the closure decreed by the British Government, which prohibited movements for tourism until May.
With the entry of summer, the restrictions were relaxed with most of the source markets, especially with those of the European Union.
In the case of the United Kingdom, it was somewhat delayed and it was not until the middle of July that the British vaccinated with the full schedule were able to travel to Spain without the need to quarantine upon their return.
A measure that is now in doubt again.
In case of reversing, it would suppose a new low blow for the Spanish tourist sector.
If you look only at the month of June, Germany was the country that contributed the most tourists (500,010), followed closely by France (438,560 travelers).
Between the two they contributed four out of every ten foreign visitors who went to Spain in the month.
These two large markets were followed by the Netherlands (147,312 tourists) and the United Kingdom (142,507).
On the expense side, the average outlay per tourist was 1,090 euros in June and the average daily expense was 147 euros. Both data are above those registered in 2020, but below those of 2019. Of course, the difference is not as great as in the number of arrivals or total spending: in the month of June before the pandemic, spending average per tourist was 1,096 euros, only six euros more than this year. In the average daily outlay, there was a bit more difference, of 10%: in 2019, 17 euros more per day were spent per traveler than in this June.
