Spanish hotel groups are joining Pedro Sánchez’s government’s push and believe 2023 will be the year tourism recover 100% after the pandemic hit first and inflation later. Companies are confident of achieving record results that even exceed the previous historical mark in 2019. The 43rd edition of Fitur overwhelmed the sector a climate of optimism not only because of the high hopes that were placed this year, but also because of the return to holding the fair as usual after overcoming Covid.
Major Spanish hotel chains – Meliá, Barceló, NH, Eurostars, Sercotel, Riu, Hesperia, Piñero and Palladium – advanced these days as part of Fitur Your predictions for this year in which, with caution imposed by a scenario surrounded by uncertainty, they expect to exceed 2019, the year before Covid-19 and an all-time high for the sector in Spain.
The Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism Reyes Maroto follows the same line and believes that may exceed 2022 numbersif the expenditure of foreign tourists in Spain will amount to about 87,000 million euros (in the absence of the National Institute of Statistics, which published the final figure on February 2), second best record after 92,300 million in 2019.
This means that tourism will become the main thing again the first national industrywith a weight in GDP of about 12-13% and almost 2.5 million employees, the best result in the historical series.
Fitur 2023 served to divide these positions of the sector, in an edition in which optimism was felt, and that, even with fewer participants than before the pandemic, created a larger volume of businessaccording to Ifema president Jose Vicente de los Mosas.
Reservations are limited in the first quarter
The almost complete return to normalcy before COVID-19 already in the second half of the year just ended is confirmed in this first quarter of 2023, in which the rhythm of stocks is very energetica point on which there is unanimity among hotels.
It started disastrously last year due to the spread of the omicron covid variant, which even affected Easter. But later the desire to travel won and the panorama changed radically. After the summer, analysts from all walks of life predicted a weak fall, driven in large part by the uncertainty surrounding the invasion of Ukraine, which has driven up fuel prices and inflation. luckily signs failed.
The the return of Chinese tourismonce your government lifts travel restrictions, which will be phased in over the course of a year, there is not enough of an element to make the effects of covid a thing of the past.
improve classes
There is a battle going on in the sector now, and all hoteliers also agree on this issue resume full employment as soon as they successfully saved 2022 with a sharp rise in prices to levels higher than 2019 levels. The forecast is that they will continue to grow in 2023, albeit to a lesser extent.
Meliá CEO Gabriel Escarer believes the company, which has nearly 400 hotels worldwide, will improve on its 2019 results in 2023. higher tempo in the festive componentmaking sure that at the beginning of the year with the data for the first half of January “we are completely comfortable”.
They have good prospects for their hotels in the Caribbean (Mexico, Dominican Republic and Cuba), thanks to the strength of the market in the United States and Canada, although the strengthening of the dollar deprives tourism of something European to go there, a position which, on the other hand, benefits the Canary Islands.
Barceló – with almost 280 hotels – will close this year with better resultsaccording to its CEO Raúl González, who even increases turnover by 10%.
In 2022, sales of the group as a whole up 104% over 2021, and hotels at 74%, with figures even better than in 2019, and a higher percentage in the Caribbean and the United States.
In NH (with 350 establishments under this brand), its CEO Ramon Aragones defines the expectations for 2023 as “exceptional”, the best year for the company, with revenue “significantly” higher than 2019which they already exceeded in 2022 (with a figure close to 1750 million).
Its 2022 strategy also called for a rate increase above occupancy, which it wants to improve in 2023 “through price increases” as it is the “only” option to maintain profitability.
Hotusa (with 246 hotels under the Eurostars brand) highlights that after a more sudden recovery in demand in 2022 than expected, the outlook for this year “probably” exceed the results of 2019in a sector that has shown great resilience and strength in reactivation, despite doubts about the outlook.
Sercotel – with 104 establishments – expects to bill 115 million this year, 64% more than in 2019. Already in 2022, it managed to exceed the current sales by 33%, according to information provided by its CEO Jose Rodriguez.
Palladium, which operates 40 hotels in 6 countries, expects this year to surpass, for the first time in its history, 1000 million euro business worked out, which will mean an increase of 5.5%. It ended 2022 with revenue of 948 million, up 26% from pre-Covid levels.
For its CEO, Jesus Sobrin, the power of demand in 2022 allowed the group to raise prices by 29% to absorb rising inflation and not hurt its margins.
The general business manager of Hesperia (22 owned hotels), Gonzalo Alcaraz, hopes that after a “fantastic” 2022 closes, exceeding initial forecasts, in 2023 the trend and prices consolidate, which were already at a higher level last year than before the ravages of covid. According to him, prices have risen due to the structural needs of the industry. Spain has “finally” caught up with other European markets compared to those it was below with products that are often of higher quality.
The Piñero Group – with 27 hotels – expects 2023 to be an “impressive” year if forecasts for summer and autumn are the same as last year, according to its CEO Encarna Piñero. “The vision that’s there from the economic side is cracking us up because it looks like we’re going to find a new crisis. But we don’t see that,” says Piñera, a position that reflects the sentiment of the sector as a whole.
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