Spain's tourism sector in 2023 exceeded all initial expectations and surpassed the high levels achieved in the 2019 season before the pandemic, both in nominal expenditure and real terms.

This achievement is particularly remarkable considering the context of high inflation, with tourism prices nearly 18% higher than in 2019.

The positive trend is projected to continue through 2024, with the tourism industry expected to outpace the overall economy’s growth.

According to the OECD, the industry’s GDP is forecasted to grow by 2.5%, while the overall economy is expected to increase by 1.8%. In 2023, the tourism industry made a significant contribution of 12.8% to the GDP and accounted for 12.6% of the total workforce.

In 2023, there was a 1.9% increase in overnight stays compared to 2019. This growth can be attributed to two main factors: the resilience of domestic tourism, which saw a 5.5% increase, and the recovery of international tourism, with 85.2 million international visitors in 2023 compared to 83.5 million in 2019.

Although the British market (the main feeder market for Spain’s tourism) is not still at the pre-pandemic levels on a full-year basis, the last quarter of 2023 exceeded the 2019 figures, which gives room for optimism.

The comparison to the end of fiscal year 2019 proves to be insightful, as it remains the most successful historical fiscal year in the hotel industry. Despite the 7.4% growth in occupancy in 2023 compared to 2022, reaching 72.8%, it still falls short by almost 3% when compared to the 2019 figure of 74.7%.

Conversely, both ADR and RevPAR have surpassed the 2019 numbers. The ADR of €144.5 in 2023 is 22% higher than the €118.4 in 2019, while the RevPAR has also increased from €88.5 in 2019 to €105.1 in 2023, marking an 18.7% rise.

The gathered data validates the positive advancement of hotel and tourism operations across all locations, albeit with more substantial expansion observed in major urban centres compared to coastal and resort destinations. This discrepancy can be attributed, in part, to the fact that 2022 had already been a remarkable year for the latter.

Spanish Hotels Performance 2023 VS 2022

Hotel investment and main transactions

In 2023, the hotel investment volume in Spain reached €4.2 billion (36% of the total investment in the country and the only real estate segment with an increase compared to 2022), considering existing hotels, properties for conversion to hotel use, and land for development.

During the year, a total of 205 assets were transferred, compared to 163 in 2022. After overcoming the barrier of €3 billion, 2023 beat all forecasts, ranking only behind 2018 -the year when Blackstone took over the Socimi Hispania in a transaction that valued its hotel portfolio at €2 billion.

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