Every armed conflict has immediate consequences on tourism and the war started between Israel and Hamas could end up favoring the main national destination, the Canary Islands. The president of the Exceltur employers' association, José Luis Zoreda, pointed out this Tuesday that if hostilities escalate and end up affecting other countries close to the Middle East, “tourism will notice.” In this sense, the business leader has focused on destinations such as Tunisia, Turkey and, especially, Egypt, the main competitor of the Canary Islands, from where there could be a transfer of visitors to Spain. Also Jordan.
Zoreda has specified that, although the conflict that has begun "seems that it is not going to have dramatic effects for Spanish tourism" and that it is not desirable for hostilities to continue, tourists who had planned vacations in these northern destinations could arrive in the Canary Islands. from Africa and southeastern Europe who flee conflict scenarios. It already happened with the terrorist attacks in Tunisia, when the Canary Islands received a significant number of tourists.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Spain, and also those of other European countries, advise against traveling to the conflict zone and nearby countries. To Egypt, the department currently directed by José Manuel Albares "advises against travel except for reasons of necessity to the entire country except the areas and tourist centers of Cairo, Alexandria and El Alamein, Luxor, Aswan, the African continental coast of the Red Sea and Sharm el Sheikh.” That is, there is no real alert at the moment. However, Foreign Affairs recommends extreme caution since “the risk of a terrorist attack of an Islamist nature” remains in any part of the country. Two Israeli tourists were murdered in recent days in Alexandria.
The war between Hamas and Israel will have consequences for business costs, Exceltur wanted to highlight. Specifically, for example, airlines will pay extra costs for the price of fuel.
While the economy, in general, begins to slow down, the tourism sector has closed a historic summer, with growth of 17.3% in its activity and 14.6% in its sales. And the improvement is not over yet. This morning, the Exceltur sector's employers presented optimistic figures for the final stretch of the year, with a season that is lengthening due to the favorable climate and with destinations such as the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands, Catalonia and the Valencian Community with good reserve levels. and outlook until December.
The summer season has been “excellent” for destinations in northern Spain, where there has been notable growth in foreign tourists. The Basque Country, Galicia and Asturias have managed to improve their sales between June and August by more than 25% compared to the same period in 2019, before the pandemic. To this we must add the massive arrival of American tourists, from the United States, Canada and Latin America to destinations such as the Balearic Islands, where there are direct air connections.
Inflation explains the positive result for tourism this summer and the added value, with higher prices, on which tourism is betting, as well. “What increases the most are the ranges with the greatest added value,” Zoreda pointed out and, in this sense, “Spain is winning that battle.” Spain, therefore, does not generally compete for “low prices.”
Taking into account this situation and perspectives, Exceltur has revised upwards its calculation of tourism GDP. He expects the sector to contribute 12.6% to the national economy, which would imply 183,000 million. According to the employers' association, 21.8% of the growth of the economy is due to tourism.
Exceltur has once again raised the tone against tourist rental homes and has demanded specific regulation to put an end to rentals that are advertised on platforms such as Airbnb outside the law. In short, they demand that the model that Florencia has announced be applied to put an end to the uncontrolled growth of these businesses that do not pass inspections. “Illegal tourist housing, which is the majority, is the main cancer of tourism,” stated José Luis Zoreda.
The president of the association has highlighted, as usual, that tourism must move towards a “more sustainable and inclusive” model. To this end, the business organization has announced that it will launch the project “The tourism that we all want”, to improve the “story” of the sector among the population.
Exceltur identifies the main problem areas with tourist rental homes in Barcelona, Madrid, Mallorca, Malaga, Seville, Granada, Ibiza and Donosti. In Malaga, for example, there are more than 200 tourist places per inhabitant. At the moment, he pointed out, there are more than 16,000 advertisements on digital platforms, a problem, he highlighted, that transcends tourism and causes harm to police officers, doctors or judges who cannot find housing at their destination. “We are not asking for the impossible, we ask that the platforms collaborate with the law,” he concluded.
