Plan/Priorities for the season

Once the most stringent restrictions on mobility imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic have been lifted, several initiatives have been launched in Andalucía, in order to recover the tourism industry, both from the point of view of the offer and the demand, as well as for the regeneration of the destinations.

In order to comply with health and safety regulations, and to raise safety expectations in the touristic community, action has been taken on companies, providing them with new certificates of quality that ensure the presence of protocols against Sars-Cov-2, as well as grants to mitigate the economic effects of the pandemic. Residents are encouraged to travel inland through discounts and aids;  destinations are invited to re-qualify and adapt to the “new normality”, by providing regulated subsidies already called in other periods, as well as through other promotion measures designed specifically for this purpose.

Among all of them, the following should be highlighted:

1. Label "Andalucía Segura" . It identifies all companies in the tourism sector that comply with the safety measures against Covid-19, in order to give consumers guarantee and confidence that they are in compliance with the standards of the World Health Organisation.

2. “Bono Turístico”. A tourism voucher for residents in Andalucía or who holds the “Andalusian Abroad Card”, wishing to travel in Andalucía, outside their place of residence, could benefit from a 2 night discount (at least) in an andalusian accommodation with the "Andalucía Segura" label.

3. Free “COVID insurance” for international travellers. Covering to all non-resident international travellers for stays in any type of establishment in Andalucía between 1 January and 31 December 2021, for medical, hospital and surgical expenses due to COVID, as well as those related, including transport and repatriation of sick people and their companions.

4. Grants for companies and destinations, for a total of 300 million euros, which more than 105 million euros have been granted directly, and 21.2 million euros through the ordinary calls for grants to local entities (Tourist municipalities, promotion of inland cultural heritage, implementation of ICT's or for the sustainable use of beaches).

5. Management of calls, in coordination with the Government of Spain, of National Tourism Sustainability Plans for rural, coastal and urban destinations, for the financing of projects aimed at supporting the transformation of our destinations into tourism innovation centres, that make them more resilient, while moving towards greater territorial cohesion, not only by linking the supply and destinations of each territory, but also by creating connections between destinations in different regions (approved in Andalucía the “Granada Geopark Plan”, for 4 million euros).

6. Promotion and celebration of highly recognised international events, including the Sotogrande International Polo Championship (Cádiz), or the 176th edition of the Sanlúcar de Barrameda Horse Races (declared International Tourism Interest Event).

Impact of the pandemic on numbers of visitors

The forecasts made by the Andalusian Regional Ministry of Tourism, estimated the number of tourists in our region around 10 million people for the months of July to September, which represents an increase of 65% over the data reported in 2020.

The number of tourists visiting Andalucia in the second quarter of 2021 stood at 3,797,520, according to the results of the Andalusian Tourism Situation Survey conducted quarterly by the Andalusian Institute of Statistics and Cartography, which represents an increase of 226.9% compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

During the month of July, hotel overnight stays grew by +108%. We are only -23% below the figure for 2019.

In terms of travellers, in July we became Spain's leading tourist destination, thanks to national tourism, which has been the main visitor. We have never recorded a month of July with so many Spanish tourists. 60% of national tourists have been from our region, encouraged by initiatives such as the tourist voucher.

According to the National Statistics Institute sources ("Encuesta de Ocupación Hotelera" (EOH) and "Movimiento turístico en frontera" (FRONTUR) ), updated on 24/08/2021, during June and July, the following figures were recorded:

Andalucia registered 2,876,377 visitors. 850,968 were foreigners, i.e. 29.5% of the total.
Hotels are the most chosen accommodation for 70% of national tourists, followed by campings, with a share of 10.7%, and rural accommodations (2.03%).

The average stay of international tourists lasted 9.38 days, with an average daily expenditure of 118.50 €, choosing hotels in 54.6% of the cases.
The main outbound market is France (20%), followed by Germany (16%) and the United Kingdom (13%) for the whole of Spain (no data at regional level).
The provinces of Malaga (31.2%) and Cadiz (20.6%) represent more than a half of the tourists who visit us, followed by Almeria (10.6%), Huelva (10.04%) and Seville (8.37%)
 
Data collected and published by the Andalucia statistics department has not yet been updated, so it is not possible to provide the measurement of tourism activity during June and July through our SmartData service.

More info on Regional Recovery Plan

Free “COVID insurance” for international travellers:
 
Covering to all non-resident international travellers for stays in any type of establishment in Andalucía between 1 January and 31 December 2021, for medical, hospital and surgical expenses due to COVID, as well as those related, including transport and repatriation of pacosick people and their companions.
https://www.andalucia.org/en/travel-assistance-insurance

Additional Info

During the period previous to the summer season, and with the aim of focusing the best promotion and boost for tourism, the statistics department of the Public Enterprise for the Management of Tourism in Andalucia has carried out the following forecasting studies (only in spanish version):
Measuring Travel Attitude through Big Data:
https://juntadeandalucia.es/export/drupaljda/producto_estadistica/21/03/actitud_viajera_2020.pdf
 
Diagnosis of Andalucia as a safe tourist destination:
https://juntadeandalucia.es/export/drupaljda/producto_estadistica/21/03/andalucia_destino_seguro.pdf
 
It also has the "SmartData" service, a tourism data application to provide businesses and tourist destinations with sources of data of  interest to help in decision-making.
https://smartdata.andalucia.org/que-es-smartdata/#