Hotel reservations in Spain were in July slightly lower than the same period in 2019, illustrating the recovery of tourism after the Covid-19 pandemic, according to figures published on Wednesday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
Second world tourist destination before the pandemic, Spain recorded 42.3 million hotel reservations in July, i.e. -1.85% compared to July 2019, and +60% compared to July 2021, indicated the INE in a press release. The first contingents of foreign tourists remain the British (26.6%) and the Germans (17.1%), as three years ago.
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Foreign travelers first favored the Balearic archipelago in the Mediterranean, Catalonia in the northeast and the Canary Islands in the Atlantic. Barcelona remains the city with the most bookings. Another indicator of the recovery of the tourism sector, one of the pillars of the Spanish economy, the airports also recorded in July a number of travelers (27 million) very close (92%) to the same period in 2019.
According to the Spanish Ministry of Tourism, 22.7 million tourists visited Spain in the first five months of 2022, seven times more than in the same period of 2021. Mobility restrictions imposed due to the pandemic of coronavirus have hit the Spanish economy hard, whose share of gross domestic product (GDP) dependent on tourism has fallen from more than 12% before the pandemic, to 5.5% in 2020, according to the INE .
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