Tourism will touch pre-pandemic levels this Easter despite 7% fewer reservations due to the war

The tourism sector finished the first quarter of 2022 above expectations and expects to approach pre-pandemic levels this Easter.

According to the analysis of the first three months of the year carried out by Exceltur, the war in Ukraine has generated "a very slight initial slowdown" compared to a growth rate that they considered very positive.

In addition, they consider that both in this period and in the summer there is a considerable percentage of people who wait until the last moment to book their vacations due to this uncertainty.

The executive vice president of Exceltur,

, has expressed his joy at the "urge to travel", which has "overcome all fears".

Neither ómicron nor the armed conflict worry the sector excessively: "They are not setting the pace."

Tourism GDP has recovered 84.2% of the pre-pandemic level in the first quarter of 2022.

Thus, facing the Easter campaign, tourist and business expectations "

".

What's more, they consider it "very possible" that some companies and destinations are already above these data "given the growing propensity for last-minute sales."

The accommodation subsector, in fact, is already at -5.4%.

By Autonomous Communities, Extremadura (3.8%), Navarra (2.5%), Aragón (2.3%), Castilla-La Mancha (2%) and Cantabria (0.6%) will exceed the sales of the last Easter before the pandemic.

The list is closed by Madrid, still at -7.6%, but Zoreda wanted to contextualize the data, which he considers "

" when compared to the previous drop, close to 24%.

In general, coastal destinations are closer to that trend than inland destinations, which are still seeing a decline in business trips.

Likewise, the organization highlights national tourism, which, for Exceltur's Director of Studies and Research, Óscar Perelli, was "savior" for the sector.

Despite the optimism, Exceltur considers the rise in energy prices, supplies and labor costs to be alarming.

As explained by Zoreda, only 26.3% of these extra costs can be transferred to prices.

The two challenges facing tourism, the organization pointed out, are the limitation of salary growth - which, they point out, is triggered by the agreements that reflect current inflation - and the ability to attract qualified personnel.

In their opinion, both factors are not related, but they believe that the pandemic and the fact that many professionals have sought other ways out after spending months in ERTE have a greater impact.

On the other hand, Zoreda asked the Government for a better use of the Next Generation Funds, which should reach tourism entrepreneurs and the sector in general.

In this sense, he called for a Strategic Plan for Economic Recovery and Transformation (PERTE) for tourism.

"We do not stop feeling

", he stated, before the approval of these strategic plans -at the moment there are ten and an eleventh announced-, which do not reach tourism.

He considers that the last of them, dedicated to the manufacture of microchips, should be the example to follow.

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