Tourism in Catalonia: a fragmented sector
Despite being a tourist powerhouse, Catalonia has never been home to many of the sector's major groups, although there are exceptions. With a proportion of 12% of all wealth generated in the country in a year, reflected in the gross domestic product (GDP), tourism is one of the essential sectors for the Catalan economy. Recently subjected to debates about its contribution to productivity and protests due to the rise of businesses such as tourist apartments and for overcrowding and gentrification, it has been, in any case, a dynamic activity, especially in recent years, as shown by data from the Institute of Statistics of Catalonia (Idescat). And it is highly focused, on the one hand, on the rental of flats and apartments and, on the other hand, on services for companies in the sector.
According to calculations elaborated by ARA based on this data, which collects the numerous and varied activities linked to tourism, one in ten tourism-focused companies has been established after the pandemic; that is, it is a maximum of six or seven years old. This has led to an increase in the number of companies related to this sector, but at the same time, it has not meant a significant rise in jobs. The Catalan employers' association Pimec admits this: growth is concentrated in micro-enterprises, SMEs, and self-employed individuals, and therefore, an increase in the number of businesses has not led to a similar increase in the number of workers. Unlike other sectors, in which there is a tendency towards concentration, in tourism in Catalonia there is a high atomization.
The data show that the specialization that is growing the most is that of other tourism services, which points to a service-based economy, more transversal and diversified, according to experts. These are supplier companies to those that deal directly with tourists, such as hotels. In fact, the hotel segment grew much less than the overall, and the transport segment even declined in the number of companies dedicated to it. And another noteworthy variable is the weight of real estate activities, which are dedicated to the management of tourist use housing (HUT), apartments and second homes, as well as real estate promotion and property management, among others. Companies in the sector show great diversity in size. Those dedicated to real estate activities register the minimum number of employees, with barely more than one person on staff, while air and sea transport companies have an average of 57 employees, according to the data.
The number of companies that has grown the most since 2019 is that of those dedicated to gambling and betting (95%), followed by those dedicated to rental activities (83.54%) and tourist accommodation (34.38%). At the same time, they are the ones leading job creation, albeit with very different proportions. In any case, catering continues to be the main driver of employment in the Catalan tourism sector, much more so than other activities that are even losing ground, such as land passenger transport, museums, and travel agencies. And this justifies the support for the gastronomy sector, which also attracts less mass tourism with greater spending capacity, such as cultural tourism.
