Tourism generated 15% of Spain’s GDP last year

With beaches, sunshine, surf, mountains, excellent food and incredible cities, Spain is one of the world’s most popular places to visit.

The incredible role that tourism plays in driving the Spanish economy is rarely underappreciated. After all, even before the Franco era came to an end in the 1970s, Spain had already begun packaging itself as a sunny destination for discerning travellers…

In the decades that followed, the nation’s tourism industry blossomed into one of the world’s most powerful and diverse, with Spain catering for holidaymakers of all shapes, sizes, origins and – crucially – budgetary capacities.

But tourism has rarely played such a dominant role in Spain’s economy as it did last year, when the industry contributed 14.9% of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP).

This data from Spain’s tourism ministry shows that tourism is more vital to Spain than the average nation. According to the figures, the worldwide average GDP of tourism is 10.4%, and the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) estimates that globally, the tourism industry generates €6.7 billion annually.

In Spain, the value of tourism to the Spanish economy increased 5.7% in 2017, with 15.1% of all of the country’s jobs dependent upon the sector. In actual terms, this means that 2.8 million jobs exist around the tourism industry, of which a massive 930,500 are directly related to tourism in Spain, the WTTC said.

Spain has reaped the benefits of strengthening economies across Europe and much of the west, while the recent terror events in regions of North Africa and in Turkey have harmed the tourism industries in these places.

Spain, despite having suffered a terrorist attack of its own in Barcelona last year, is widely considered to be a very safe place in which to holiday.

For 2018, the WTTC predicts further growth of 2.9% for Spanish tourism, sustained at an average of 2.3% for the next decade.