The same day that a new record of travelers was known for the month of January at the Alicante-Elche-Miguel Hernández airport, the one that is growing proportionally the most of the 15 main Spanish aerodromes, the latest report released by the studies office from the Alicante Chamber of Commerce collects evidence that the GDP of the province of Alicante was driven in 2023 mainly by the services sector and construction.
The study, which compares the data from the third quarter of last year with those from the same period in the years since 2019, shows that the services sector continues to present a better relative performance, together with construction activity, in the face of the decline in agriculture and the slackness of the industrial branches.
Specifically, the agricultural sector suffered a drop of 2.8% in the third quarter of 2023 compared to the same period in 2022, to accumulate a decrease of 1.6% between January and September. which the editors of the study speak of, reflecting a zero variation in the quarter and a minimal variation in the year as a whole (-0.6%)
The opposite of construction, which in September accumulated growth of 5.9%, with a positive 2.4% in the third quarter, while services recorded a 3.2% increase in the quarter and a 3.5% in the annual sum.
The report explains that “the rebound in energy prices, due to the increase in oil prices during the summer months, has had a negative impact on business activity, which has been widespread, although it has affected some more intensely. branches, such as transportation.
Likewise, the Chamber's experts emphasize the fact that "the problems of availability of labor with the necessary qualifications continue to worsen, especially in sectors such as construction, industry and hospitality."
The study office confirms that “the activity of the manufacturing industry remains weak. The tightening of financing conditions and the lack of momentum in global economic activity, especially in the euro zone, the market to which just over half of Alicante's exports are directed, continue to weigh on the sector's results."
Exports fell due to the fall in demand and the losses in competitiveness derived from the greater growth in unit labor costs and the evolution of the euro exchange rate.
On the contrary, the service branches related to tourism and leisure “present a very positive balance, although their growth rates are increasingly lower, once the initial impulse associated with the reopening of the economy after the pandemic has faded.” disappearing and the records of 2019 have already been widely surpassed.”
The strength of tourism demand is transferred to other activities such as retail trade, while, on the contrary, the transportation, storage and logistics branches show the weakness of industrial activity.
Construction activity maintains its positive contribution to the advance of Alicante's Gross Domestic Product, although the report confirms something that the sector has been warning about in the last two quarters: a trend towards a slowdown in the start of new housing projects. Indeed, completion certificates and some intermediate consumption indicators reflect a less dynamic behavior of residential construction. Meanwhile, construction costs continue to grow, due to the higher cost of labor, which, together with a demand for housing that remains intense, puts upward pressure on prices, to values unknown in the province.
The report from the Alicante Chamber of Commerce also includes the fact that, according to the results of the Quarterly National Accounts of Spain of the National Institute of Statistics, the GDP at current prices of Spain registered an interannual growth of 8.1% in the third quarter of 2023, 0.6 percentage points less than in the second quarter. while in the province of Alicante, the GDP grew by just 1.5%, which is 6.6 percentage points less than the national average.
