The tourism sector in Spain, far from suffering a crisis, has broken a new record: this time, with regards to the hotel industry. The sector generated 4.810 billion euros in 2018, 23% more than 2017 and is the largest figure ever recorded according to the market study conducted by the consultancy agency Colliers, which has been reported by Agencia EFE.
The investment-per-room stood at 127,000 euros in 2018, compared to the 119,000 euros invested in 2017.
Miguel Vázquez, Director of Strategy of the consultancy agency, today attributed this upturn to the “high investor pressure” in the market.
Forecasts for the coming year predict the greatest international hotel investment to occur in the holiday sector, with a “correction” of the market on an operational level, a “more normalised” environment and a “significant” investment in repositioning.
In 2019, the main destinations for investors will be the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands and Madrid.
In 2018, the transaction between existing hotels represented an investment volume of 4.590 billion euros, with 273 establishments. Compared to 182 in 2017, this entails an increase of 33.9%.
Regarding the conversion of property for hotel use, 2018 saw a drop from the 2017 investment figure of 60.1%, with 17 operations compared to 20 the year before.
In terms of land investment for the development of hotels, the figure for 2018 stood at around 68 million euros, with 9 closed operations. There were 12 such operations in 2017, representing a 30.1% decrease.
Colliers’ study states that the most significant operations in 2018 were Blackstone’s purchase of 49 Hispania hotels (12,649 rooms), Bankinter’s property investment company’s purchase of 21 Atom Hoteles hotels (5152 rooms) and Minor’s purchase of 21 NH Hotel Group’s establishments (1685 rooms).
Most of the investment in hotels – of which 70% was international, with significant investment fund activity – was recorded in the holiday sector (two-thirds of the investment).
A significant upturn was recorded in the two archipelagos (46%), with a notable drop in investment in Barcelona and Malaga, with each city receiving 50% less investment compared to 2017.
The study attributes the decreased investment in the hotel industry in Barcelona (232 million in 2018 compared to 422 million in 2017) to the political situation in Catalonia.
