Tourism continues the comeback after the catastrophic 2020 and the unexpected slowdown due to the omicron variant.
Tourism sees signs of recovery, but the recovery has not yet come because the figures are 60% lower than before the pandemic.
Tourism wants to forget 2020, a year that the sector describes as "tremendous", "disastrous" and even "catastrophic" . It was its worst year, but in 2021 the sector showed signs of recovery.
More than 31 million foreign tourists visited Spain last year: 64% more than in 2020, but still far from the almost 84 million in 2019.
And it is that the recovery has been very limited by the restrictions imposed until June . The hoteliers remember that it was in May when "the comeback" began little by little, reaching very good levels as of June.
Omicron variant, the last blow to tourism
But at the end of the year it was stopped by the expansion of the omicron variant . In winter tourist areas, the virus was lethal, especially in January and February, with a very atypical season and occupancy rates of around 10-15%.
The restrictions forced businesses to adapt to new needs and new visitors. The largest number of foreign tourists - almost six million - came from France, ahead of the Germans and the British.
Travelers from the United Kingdom collapsed, the country that has traditionally sent the most tourists to our country. And it is that at the end of the year Spain prohibited the entry of unvaccinated British travelers, a decision that caused many reservations to be lost in the month of December from British families.
The Balearic Islands, Catalonia and the Canary Islands, the favorite destinations
As for the favorite destinations, one in five foreign tourists chose the Balearic Islands to spend their holidays, the most visited autonomous community. Catalonia and the Canary Islands follow.
Although the total expenditure was 34,800 million euros, more than double that in 2020, it only represents a third of what they left in 2019. The sector estimates that the tourism economy has yet to recover at more than 60,000 million euros.
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