abanca

Galicians reduced by 48% the displacements for vacations out of Galicia during August, according to a report of Abanca made by means of techniques of ‘big data’, of the geolocation of the leisure establishments in which they made their payments.

Specifically, the observatory ‘Abanca by Ieside’ publishes this Monday its fifth issue, which is dedicated to analyze the evolution of the commercial activity in Galicia between July 20th and August 30th.

The report seeks to know the movements of the Galicians during their vacations, “this year more focused on Galicia”. It also shows the evolution of municipalities with restrictions, whose effect was noted “clearly in leisure and retail trade”; and notes “some slowdown” after the “strong upturn” observed in July, it says.

Thus, the number of Galicians who spent their vacations in another autonomous community fell by 38% compared to August 2019. In the case of travel outside Spain, the fall was even greater, 62%. Trips abroad were concentrated in Portugal, which received 73% of the departures of Galicians, compared to 45% a year ago.

In this second stage of the ‘new normality’, economic activity slowed down to pre-covy levels, and spending was below (-3.4%) the same period in 2019.

If only purchases in Galicia are considered, the level of expenditure of Galicians is 2.8% higher than last year, favored by the lower displacement outside the community.

Abanca once again notes the lower use of cash, whose use has fallen by 14% in the last twelve months to the benefit of other means of payment, especially cards, which show an 11% growth and constitute, with 47% of total payments, the majority option.

Impact of resprouts

The report also reflects the impact of the resurgence on activity in areas where restrictions had to be tightened. In the case of leisure, the activity of the affected municipalities was 68 points lower than in the rest of the province and 31% lower than the levels of the same period in 2019.

The leisure expenditure of Galician people is 30% lower than the level of August 2019, although if only the amount spent in Galicia is taken into account, the fall is reduced to 17%, a fact that Abanca explains why Galician people reduced their trips outside the community and concentrated their expenditure there. “Travel agencies, nightclubs and hotels continue to show significant falls compared to 2019,” he says.

These conclusions, as well as the rest of those offered by the report, are applied in a homogeneous way and “without significant differences” to the four Galician provinces, according to the entity.

Pontevedra is the most benefited province by the impulse of the tourism in the summer season, while A Coruña accuses the impact of the restrictions on the retail trade and the leisure.