Catalonia experienced a year-on-year GDP growth of 3% by June 2026, surpassing the Spanish average. This increase is mainly due to tourist consumption and household activity.
The growth of Catalonia's GDP reached 3% year-on-year in the first half of 2026, according to data from the Institut d'Estadística de Catalunya (Idescat). This increase exceeds the growth of the Spanish economy by three tenths and is significantly higher than the European Union average, which stands at 1.2%.
The rise in consumption by foreign visitors, which grew by 10.2%, along with spending by households and public administrations, has been crucial for this growth. The services sector stood out with an increase of 3.8%, followed by construction with 3.7%.
Although agriculture remained stagnant with a growth of 0.3%, the industry recorded an increase of 1.3%. In the services sector, commerce, transport, and hospitality led the growth with 4.6%.
The data, which do not include the impact of summer tourism, is complemented by the statistics for July, where 1.8 million foreign visitors were recorded, the second-best month in the historical series. On a quarterly basis, GDP grew by 0.7% between April and June, aligning with the Spanish average.
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