Funcas, the foundation for savings banks, is predicting that Spanish regions which receive the most tourists will be the ones with the lowest economic growth next year and that their growth for this year will turn out to have been the lowest as well. The foundation identifies four regions - the Canaries, Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearics - and attributes this deceleration to a decline in the number of tourists. A fifth region, Andalusia, will be less affected because of the good performance of other economic sectors in the region.
The foundation, whose growth forecasts are typically more conservative than others, predicts 2.2% economic growth for the Balearics this year, the second lowest of the four regions it specifies: the Canaries will have 2.1%. All other regions of Spain are forecast to have higher rates of growth, with the exception of La Rioja (1.9%).
Funcas explains that there has been a "notable revision" of forecasts given in May, especially with regard to the principal tourism regions. There has needed to be a lowering in the forecasts because of the "negative evolution" of tourism. This has come about because of "saturation in the most popular destinations and competition from other countries".
At the start of this year, Funcas was forecasting 2.8% growth for the Balearics, whereas the regional government placed it at 3.5%.