The hotel sector expects to achieve growth of between 5 and 7% in 2023 in a positive scenario, with the continuation of the gradual relaxation of prices started at the end of the year and the adaptation of business to the new situation through the management of new models, together with the expected relaxation of the war situation in Ukraine who prefer to improve the tourist season.
The head of hospitality in Spain, José Luis Yezuel, expressed confidence that next year the recovery path that already started in 2022 will be strengthened.
“The big pending issue regarding the viability of the business is to achieve profitability levels in line with revenue growth, as the tsunami of raw material and energy prices means that profitability has dropped significantly in 2022, despite the recovery in revenue levels. depreciation”, he noted in the hotel yearbook presentation in Spain for 2022.
As for the challenges, he highlighted the need to continue advancing in the areas in which the sector is working to adapt to the new reality that involves the digitalization of business, the search for greater professionalization of workers and the promotion of sustainability.
For his part, the coordinator of the tourism sector report at CaixaBank, Javier Ibáñez de Aldequa, confirmed that “the recovery of activity was noticeable in 2022, but there is still a part of the sector that has been suffering from problems since the beginning of the epidemic. “
He added: “Promoting the recovery of tourism demand in 2023 would clearly help the sector as a whole to strengthen its position.”
In 2022, the hospitality sector is paying nearly double what it was in 2021, and while still below pre-crisis figures at the end of the year, it is expected to meet or slightly exceed 2019 figures, he noted. for him general. Secretary of Hospitality in Spain, Emilio Gallego.
Accommodation, driven by increased tourism, is recovering more quickly, already surpassing 2019 figures, while the catering business is almost 3% down.
This year, the employment numbers also reflect, according to Gallego, a good evolution of the sector, with the average number of workers employed until November of 213 thousand compared to the previous year, reaching the 2019 figure of 1.7 million.
Despite this positive evolution, which appeared in the data of the main economic indicators, it was clear that hotel companies were unable to recover profitability before the crisis due to the high costs of energy and raw materials that directly depend on them.
By region, the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands recorded the greatest recovery compared to 2021, as they were the hardest hit during the crisis. Compared to 2019, most have already surpassed their turnover in that year.
However, the Canary Islands are still below, such as La Rioja, Galicia, the Basque Country, Madrid and Catalonia, some of which have been affected by the impact of remote work.
