Bank of Spain Governor analyses tourism’s contribution to Spain’s growth outperformance and flags sector challenges

The Bank of Spain published a speech by Governor José Luis Escrivá on how tourism has supported the recent buoyancy of the Spanish economy. He highlighted that Spain outgrew other euro area economies in 2022–24 without a detectable build-up of macroeconomic imbalances, with tourism exports making a positive contribution to overall performance. Tourism exports’ weight in GDP increased by 1.5 percentage points between 2004 and 2024. In 2024 nearly 94 million tourists visited Spain, around 10 million more than in 2019, and foreign tourist arrivals were 12.3% higher than in 2019, outpacing increases in Mediterranean Europe (8.6%) and Europe overall (1.6%). The speech also pointed to diversification in tourism flows, including stronger off-peak demand and a wider spread of destinations, alongside a shift in source markets, with the UK share down 9 percentage points and Germany down 5 percentage points between 2002–04 and 2022–24. Quality indicators improved, with the estimated share of beds in 4- and 5-star hotels rising from 36% in 2004 to 56% in 2024. Factors cited as underpinning the momentum include a shift in household spending towards leisure, the post-pandemic ease of providing services across borders enabling new work-and-leisure travel patterns, migration easing labour bottlenecks in tourism-related sectors, and a geopolitical shift that increases the relative appeal of southern and western Europe. Key challenges highlighted for the sector include climate change adaptation, impacts on the housing market, infrastructure management, and persistent labour shortages.