If you believed that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would not have consequences in the Spanish economy they were very wrong. To the increased energy costs that will lead tofurther tightening the inflation that we are already suffering, we must add another derivative: tourism.
The tourism it is one of the cornerstones of the Spanish economy and the pandemic has made it very clear. travel restrictions weighed down the Spanish economy almost 20,000 million euros in 2020 due to the scarcity of foreign visitors in our land.
In 2021 the situation gradually recovered, with a spending increase of 76% (34,816 million euros) and 64% more visitors, according to data recently made public by the Government. Therefore, this 2022 was expected to be the complete explosionalready with hardly any measures in force against COVID due to the extension of vaccination.
But the unexpected war in Ukraine has put at risk the good forecasts (Exceltur, the tourist employer, estimated growth by more than 50%). Why? because precisely the third issuing country of tourists to Spain is Russia. And it doesn’t look like Russians are going to have it easy to travel this summer.
The Russians, persona non grata in the world
Last year, which we already know was not one of the most buoyant for tourism, they arrived in our country 134,000 Russian touristswhich were left more than 220 million, according to INE data. There are not many, but on the contrary, they are the Europeans who spend the most in Spain.
While the British and French tend to look for more sun and beach all-inclusive tourism, Russians are high-impact touristsbecause on average each one spent last year in your stay 1,700 euros. Even many of them already had their second residence here and make luxury purchases in the main Spanish cities. In 2019, the last ‘normal’ year, 1.3 million Russians came. In other words, if we take this year as a reference and that average of 1,700 euros, We are talking about more than 2,000 million euros that Spain could stop entering this year.
Because now the Russians face a very different situation. The ruble has been devalued by almost 30% as a consequence of the economic sanctions imposed by most countries on Russia. Its banks have been kicked out of the SWIFT system, which means Russian bank accounts and cards do not work in the EU. That is, they have less purchasing power and their payments are not accepted.
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But also, There has been an air lock on Russian airlines, so it’s not just that they don’t have to spend, it’s that they can’t come directly. Just when just a few weeks ago the routes linking Russia with Spain had been increased.
Therefore, the blow to tourism can be severe. The Government has already got down to work and hopes to alleviate this loss with travelers from Latin America, but it is not known to what extent this may be enough.
Thus, we see how sticks are once again put in the wheels of the economic recovery. At a key moment. We hope that the war will end as soon as possible, for the good of Ukraine and for the good of the world.
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