Tourism Saves Service Sector Sales In Summer: They Rise 21.7%

The recovery of sales in the services sector of 21.7% in June comes after the reactivation of national and international tourism , which despite the restrictions imposed by the impact of the fifth wave of infections, far exceeds the level of visits registered in the past year.

With the rebound in June, services have seen four consecutive months of year-on-year increases after a year of declines as a result of the pandemic. However, it must be taken into account that the year-on-year comparison is made on June 2020, a month partially affected by the first state of alarm and home confinement.

In this sense, although there is a moderation in the rebound – by more than 17 points compared to May and by more than 36 points compared to April, when the highest increase in the historical series was registered – it is true that the vigor of the activity will allow to beat all the levels of the past year , still very influenced by the measures of limitation of the international trips and even between the autonomous communities.

Within services , hospitality (accommodation services and food and beverage services) was the sector that increased its sales the most in June, 83.1% in relation to the same month of 2020. Specifically, accommodation services multiplied its sales for more than five, while the food and beverage services invoiced 49.9% more.

Along with those of these activities, the increases in sales of travel agencies and tour operators (+ 238.1%) also stand out; air transport (+ 100.9%) and taxi transport (+ 85.1%).

For its part, commerce increased its annual turnover by 18.7%, while other services, which include the hospitality industry along with other subsectors, registered a 28.7% increase in sales compared to June 2020. Within In trade, the highest year-on-year increase in sales was experienced by wholesale trade (+ 25.3%), followed by the sale and repair of vehicles (+ 15.2%) and retail trade (+ 6.8%).

In the case of other services , the highest annual increase in sales was recorded by the hospitality industry (+ 83.1%), followed by administrative activities and auxiliary services (+ 32.7%); transportation and storage (+ 31%); professional, scientific and technical activities (+ 20.7%), and information and communications (+ 12.8%).

By autonomous communities, all of them increased their turnover in the interannual rate last June. The greatest advances in sales in the services sector occurred in the Balearic Islands (+ 35.4%), Madrid (+ 27.3%), the Canary Islands (+ 24.1%) and Galicia (+ 22.9%), while that the minors occurred in Murcia (+ 7.7%) and Extremadura (+ 13.9%).

Adjusted for the calendar effect and seasonality, the billing of the services sector increased by 20.8% in June compared to the same month last year, 16.6 points below the rebound experienced in May.

In the first six months of the year, sales in the service sector increased by an average of 14.1%, with the sale of vehicles and motorcycles leading the way (+36.5). In contrast, the largest declines in billing between January and June were in travel agencies (-48.8%), air transport (-35.6%) and accommodation services (-15%).

The hospitality industry ‘pulls’ growth
In monthly terms and in data corrected for seasonality and calendar, the services sector recorded a monthly increase in sales of 2.3% in June, its highest monthly increase since February, with the hospitality industry also leading the promotions, with a turnover of 12.8 % more than in May.

Among other services, in addition to hospitality, the monthly increases in sales in transport and storage (+ 5.4%) and administrative activities (+ 4.4%) stand out, followed, albeit by a distance, by information and communications (+ 1.2%) and professional activities (+ 0.9%).

Commerce, for its part, billed 5.4% more in June compared to May, with increases of 0.6% in the sale and repair of vehicles , 8.5% in wholesale trade and 0.5% in retail.