The president of the Andalusian Regional Government, Juanma Moreno, has stated that Andalusia has broken records, reaching 33.9 million tourists in 2023, which represents an increase of 9.9% over last year and 4.3% more than that recorded in 2019.
Moreno, who inaugurated the Andalusian pavilion at the International Tourism Fair in Madrid (Fitur 2024) together with the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport, Arturo Bernal, indicated that Andalusian hotel establishments registered nearly 20 million travellers in 2023 and that overnight stays reached 54.2 million.
Furthermore, the data indicate that the Andalusian community has been the preferred national destination for Spaniards to stay in its hotels with 21.2% of the total, well ahead of Catalonia, the Valencian Community, Madrid and the islands.
In terms of tourism revenue, he stressed that it has meant a nominal increase of 20.9%, with the average expenditure per tourist being 77.8 euros, which represents an increase of 8% over the previous year.page1image8308224
The Andalusian president stressed the importance and repercussion that tourism has on employment and clarified that as far as jobs are concerned, these have increased by 5.5%.
In this way, he stressed that Andalusia is a world potential for tourism because of its landscapes, its beaches, its climate, its gastronomy, its people, its history and its monuments, in addition to the fact that it is a highly professionalised sector that adapts and anticipates and is capable of offering the excellence and quality demanded by visitors.
«Our destination competes on the basis of quality and it is from this that we have achieved the attention and loyalty of tourists. This has made us the number one destination for national tourism. The objective is to continue to recover the share of international tourism».
Moreno reported that one out of every three visitors to Andalusia in 2023 were foreigners, with a total of 11.6 million, 20.7% more than in 2022.
In this regard, he recalled that the ‘Andalusian Crush’ campaign aims to recover these tourists and has clarified that 65% of the impacts of this campaign have been achieved in Asia and America.
He also insisted that the Andalusian region is ready to host major events, as demonstrated by the Solheim Cup Golf tournament held on the Costa del Sol, the most watched in history, and the Latin GRAMMY Awards held in Seville.
Andalusia is expected to reach 35 million visitors next year.
The president of the Andalusian Regional Government has affirmed that, despite the difficulties, tourism has proven to be an industry with the capacity to reinvent itself and has advanced that the forecasts for 2024 are optimistic. Thus, he pointed out that in the worst-case scenario and with the most pessimistic forecasts of the panel of experts, Andalusia could recover 35 million tourists this year.
On another note, he praised the efforts made by tourism companies to maintain the pulse and activity in some years that have been very hard and in which the Andalusian community has been able to make the grade.
He also alluded to another important issue that has to do with the model and how the success of tourism is managed, stating that it is not a question of turning the crank and growing more each year than the previous one, but rather of ensuring that this growth is sustainable and involving all parties.