diplomat
According to the Ministry of Industry and Tourism’s forecasts, Spain will receive more than 84 million tourists in 2023, surpassing the previous record set in 2019, and spend more than 108 billion euros.
this was announced yesterday Minister of Industry and Tourism Jordi HeleuAt a press conference, it was reported that they evaluated the performance of the Spanish tourism industry throughout 2023. european press.
Therefore, he elaborated:International tourist arrivals would have managed to surpass the record numbers of 2019, the year before the pandemic, by 1%19% higher than in 2022, as well as this figure to be confirmed and expanded in early February using data from the National Statistical Institute (INE).
As for spending, Heleu stressed that it is growing faster than tourist arrivals. Therefore, these projections of his 108 billion euros would mean that compared to the 2019 figures he increased by 17.4%, and year-on-year he increased by 23.8%.
According to Heleu, this is a “great injection of prosperity” that exceeds the number of tourists, the “historically most important” figure for Spain’s economy. Because the industry’s ambitions are currently making qualitative progress, but not much quantitative progress.
Following the data, the minister stressed that the government would no longer use 2019 data as a reference indicator, saying the pandemic was “a cycle that has already been overcome” and that “fortunately” the pandemic had He emphasized that he was being left behind.
The Director General of Tourism declared that 2023 “represents a record year in the development of tourism in Spain”, highlighting “variables of most interest” such as “Spain’s prosperity, tourist income and job creation”. emphasized.
Heleu also predicted that the “tourism-based prosperity path” will continue in 2024. The first four months of this year, including Easter, are expected to see 23.2 million international travelers (up 10.8%) and spending of over €30.432 billion (up 18.5%).
He also highlighted the positive figures that showed that tourism employment ended the year with the highest number of workers ever, accounting for 12.5% of the total number of workers in the country, according to data from Turespaña. Economy at the end of December.
Regarding the future of Spain’s tourism industry, the minister pointed out that this also includes attracting tourists from other continents. “Europe has always been a fundamental bank and will continue to be so,” he said, but will focus on attracting tourists from further afield as part of the “battle for added value.”
Along these lines, he stressed that tourists coming from other continents appreciate the “quality of gastronomy, culture and accommodation” very highly “thanks to our efforts”. However, he noted that it’s not a matter of forgetting everything else, but rather segmenting “well” and adding this element.