Press Release 28/12/2021

TOURISM SATELLITE ACCOUNT. Preview 2020

Expenditure on tourism in the Basque Country decreased by 43.4% in 2020 and stood at 2,878 million, 4.0% of GDP

In 2020, all the components of tourism expenditure in the Basque Country fell, as did expenditure on tourism by Basques beyond the borders

The pandemic and travel restrictions in 2020 impacted all the components of tourism expenditure in the Basque Country, along with expenditure on tourism by Basques beyond the borders; this expenditure stood at 2,878 million euros in the Basque Country, almost 2,206 million fewer than in 2019, representing a drop of 43,4%, according to data prepared by Eustat. As a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), tourism expenditure fell 2.4 points, from 6.4% in 2019 to 4.0% in 2020.

The Tourism Satellite Account is compiled using the methodology of the World Tourism Organization (WTO, EUROSTAT, OCDE, 2010) and computes a number of tourism-related economic parameters, from the viewpoint of both supply and demand, integrating and linking these two perspectives with those used in the National Accounts to quantify the other economic activities.

To understand the exceptional nature of this drop, it should be noted that expenditure on tourism had only ever fallen once in the Basque Country since records began. This occurred in 2009 as a result of the economic crisis and, on that occasion, the decrease in tourism expenditure was only 164 million euros, a 4.4% drop compared to the previous year.

The health crisis affected the two aggregates that comprise tourism expenditure, although the impact on Inbound tourism was greater. This component of the expenditure includes tourism expenditure in the Basque Country by people originating from abroad and the rest of Spain, which fell by 55.2% in 2020, compared to the previous year. The Other tourism components include expenditure on tourism by Basque residents in the Basque Country itself, expenditure by public Administrations on tourism-related programmes and Gross Capital Formation (Investment) in characteristic tourist business lines. The pandemic also affected this second aggregate, albeit to a lesser extent, with a reduction of 25.9% compared to the previous year.

The decrease in tourism caused by the health crisis reduced the tourism balance deficit in the Basque Country

In 2020, the health crisis impacted both outbound tourism and inbound tourism. Both figures dropped to below half of the values registered the previous year. In absolute terms, the reduction was greater in outbound tourism, which led to an improvement in the tourism balance for the Basque Country, from -1,702 million euros in 2019 to -616 million in 2020. In terms of percentage of GDP, these data mean that the tourism balance went from -2.1% in 2019 to -0.9% in 2020.

The effects of the pandemic were felt in all three Basque provinces

The impact of travel restrictions affected all three provinces. The greatest reduction occurred in Bizkaia, with 45.7%, 1.7 points lower than in 2019. Gipuzkoa suffered a drop of 42.7%, although its share of the total tourism expenditure rose half a percentage point. For its part, the fall in Álava was less marked, 38.1%, and its contribution to total expenditure on tourism increased by 1.2 points.

For further information:

Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Basque Statistics Institute C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.eus Tel.: 945 01 75 62