The tourism sector in Spain has begun this year improving the records of 2016, even though this is a historic exercise. The sector anticipates for 2017 the arrival of more tourists, higher hotel prices and improvements in the services that are offered. Optimism in the sector is widespread and seven out of ten managers (67%) in the industry expect growth higher than last year, according to a survey conducted by the consulting firm Deloitte.
“Companies in the sector have to analyze well how much customers are willing to pay for their services,” said César Bengoechea, senior manager of Deloitte. Last year, industry executives already anticipated that the growth of this industry would be good. 73% of the respondents at the end of the year assure that the evolution of the sector has been better or much better than expected.
The good behavior of Spanish tourism helps, in addition to the situation of insecurity that is experienced in the competing countries (especially those of North Africa and Turkey), the improvement of the international and national economy. In fact, among the prospects for improving the economy, 60% of respondents estimate that Spain will grow more than the world economy will achieve. “This will have positive repercussions on the development of the national tourism sector”.
In this way, as the senior manager of Deloitte explained, the key to Spanish tourism is in improving revenues. “The occupation has increased in the last 20 years and we are in record numbers. The important thing now is to improve incomes through prices, not more arrival of tourists,” Bengoechea argued. Something that must be achieved by improving the services and renovation of hotels.
In the survey conducted by Deloitte, 70 executives from the hotel sector (58%), distribution (15%), transport (13%) and the rest of the industry (14%) participated. By segments, according to senior sector officials, leisure and business tourism will grow at least as much as in the last year, says the consultancy firm Deloitte.
The outlook is that rates for three-, four- and five-star hotels will experience an average increase of 10% in 2017 over 2016, according to the survey. This confirms the main challenges highlighted by the CEOs: improving the operating margin, increasing revenues and managing the brand and talent.
“According to the INE, last year’s occupation increased by nearly three percentage points, reaching an average of 63%. The hotel price index also shows a continuous increase in prices in all months for all categories, having increased by 10, 5% in the annual aggregate in the last two years. “
This upward trend in prices influences improvements and hotel renovations. In 2016, the sector has once again attracted more than 2,000 million euros in investments in the hotel sector for the second consecutive year.
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