The consulting and professional services firm BRAINTRUST, a leader in the tourism sector, has issued a new report of its Tourism Barometer that analyzes the spending of Spanish households, reaching important conclusions, stating that Spaniards have as a priority the life philosophy of enjoying versus having, especially with the effects of the pandemic on living behavior.
Thus, in all the household segments analyzed, spending on restaurants, hotels, leisure and culture outstrips spending on traditionally relevant aspects such as fashion, technology or education itself, or even healthcare (which in Spain has a greater public presence).
Spending on hotels and restaurants rises for wealthier families and falls for poorer families
According to BRAINTRUST data, households in Spain show very significant differences with respect to the weight that each household assigns to each category of expenditure.
Thus, in the most privileged households, spending on restaurants and hotels reached 12.2% of the total, increasing with respect to 2019, where it represented 11.9%.
In contrast, in lower-income households, the same category accounts for only 5.9%, even decreasing compared to 2019, where it represented a slightly higher share of 6%.
If we add to the chapter on hotels and restaurants, the part dedicated to leisure and culture, in the first group the weight would increase to 18.1%, and in the second group to 9.3%, confirming that Spaniards, after the pandemic, spend more on these aspects, only behind housing and food.
In the middle bracket would be the rest of the households with 9.6% in this category, down from 9.9% in 2019, which, together with culture and leisure, would reach 14.4%.
For Ángel García Butragueño, Director of Tourism at BRAINTRUST: "The data in our possession reflect a very particular way of life of the Spanish people, in line with the changes in their behavior following the pandemic. But these habits are often truncated by extrinsic aspects such as the budgetary availability of households, which in recent times and in the face of soaring prices, must look at where they spend every euro, and adjust their spending to the needs of families. Households with higher incomes continue to pull consumption of restaurant and hotel spending, and leisure and culture, and collaterally of tourism, but a slowdown is noticed in the rest of the families, which confirms that the euphoria unleashed in tourism has more to do with foreign tourism, where we continue with borrowed tourists, than with the Spanish. This is what we warn our clients so that they can redefine their distribution strategies, thus optimizing the opportunity. The strategy valid for one year may not be valid for another."
The weight of spending on housing and food rises compared to 2019.
While in higher income households the budget dedication has lower share over the total in the case of housing and food, with a figure of 42.5%, rising from 39.5% in 2019.
Analyzing the middle-income household bracket, housing and food reaches 49.5% of their total household expenditures, increasing 4.7 points since 2019. In the opposite case, lower-income households devote a total of 59.6% to housing and food, leaving only 5.9% available to the space dedicated to hotels and restaurants, confirming a slowdown in spending as the two items of greatest need soar, and thus weigh down the category dedicated to entertainment and recreation.
Spending on what BRAINTRUST calls entertainment and leisure, which includes restaurants, hospitality, leisure and culture, therefore ranks only behind housing and food, whose weight in household spending has soared since 2019 due to the inflation effect.
For José Manuel Brell, Partner in charge of the Quantitative Studies and Models practice, and of the Tourism and Leisure Industry at BRAINTRUST: "We should always be analyzing the consumption data of Spaniards, which change depending on the socio-economic scenario, and which mark very precise forecasts, to which we must be attentive in order to design the strategies of companies in the short, medium and long term. In the case of spending on leisure, restaurants, culture and hotels, it is clear that Spaniards want to put it as a priority, but the impact of prices in housing (both rental and purchase) and food reposition the categories of expenditure, appreciating differences by income bracket of households in Spain that are very important. As we always think in BRAINTRUST, putting data at the service of business is increasingly important, in order to propose future scenarios in the markets, and thus determine appropriate products for each group".
