The transactions made with corporate cards processed by means of payment from 2019 to the first quarter of 2023, have been analyzed by UniversalPay, a company specialized in payment solutions.
The pandemic reduced the corporate tourism until almost disappearing due to health restrictions, but it seems that face-to-face events and meetings have returned, and this time to stay.
Only in 2022, the operations carried out were already 6% above the data registered in 2019 and, the growth in the first quarter of this year, is 38% higher than in the same quarter of the previous year. According to the latest data released by Turespaña, our country is the leading destination, followed by France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom. Not only for national events, but also international ones.
Spaniards prefer to do business “face to face”
During the pandemic, video conferencing was established, as well as digital and hybrid events in the “new normal”. The industry related to face-to-face corporate events suffered a strong blow and was heading towards disappearance. After this time of uncertainty, it seems that the Spanish have returned to doing business “face to face”.
According to UniversalPay data, since the quarantine, in 2020, corporate travel increased by 107.08% in the last year. They had already done so by 33% in 2021, although still, with the comings and goings of the different restrictions, it was difficult to return to recovery. Now yes, in 2023, it seems that we can talk about it. The growth registered between the results of the first quarter of the year of 2021 and 2023, has been 171%, and everything indicates that it will continue to increase in the coming months.
On December 29, the “Resolution of December 19, 2022, of the Secretary of State for Commerce” was published in the Official State Gazette, approving the Official Calendar of International Trade Fairs for 2023, and which includes the number of events scheduled throughout the year. In Spain there are programmed, during 2023, a total of 105 international fairs. In 2019, there were 94 that were held.
Great economic impact
A quarter of tourists in the world travel for business, which is equivalent to 280 million people who travel for professional reasons to attend meetings, congresses or conventions, as stated by data from the Spain Convention Bureau. This same study reflects the important economic impact of corporate tourism, specifically in Spain, it generates 7,000 million euros per year.
In our country, Madrid and Barcelona host almost 50% of professional meetings. In fact, the Catalan capital is the fourth city in the world that organizes the most congresses (156), according to statistics from the International Congresses and Conventions Association (ICCA).
In addition, the business tourist has a greater purchasing power and the average cost is usually higher than that of the leisure tourist. Specifically, he spends around 206 euros a day, while leisure spends an average of 146 euros a day, according to data from Ostelea.
