Record summer spending: small business revenue up 40%

The summer of record spending: a small business sees revenue up 40%

A small business owner who travels the coast and the capital of his province sums it up bluntly: "I had never seen my city like this." Beach bars, pubs, shopping centres, everything packed. His revenue has grown 40% compared to last year, and it is no isolated case: travel and flight data are also hitting records.

Why has this summer been different?

The business owner points to two factors: two years ago, the rise in the SMI (Spain's minimum wage) hit his business; last year, price increases held back spending. This year, by contrast, consumer spending has soared. The World Cup has done a lot, another analysis suggests. The combination of a global sporting event and easing prices has unleashed pent-up spending.

Macro vs micro: the mirage of the figures

Record road travel and flight numbers confirm the trend. But some argue that Spain creates wealth the way 19th-century cotton plantations did: on the basis of precarious work that prevents millions from accessing a decent life. The response comes quickly: job insecurity is no longer limited to one group, but affects the majority. The tension between macro figures and micro reality is the backdrop to this summer.

The figure that surprises

The business owner, who does not want to give details of his business but hints that it is "something along the lines of" selling melons from a van with loudspeakers, insists it is far more lucrative than people think. And he adds: "I have never seen Spain like this in my lifetime." Record spending coexists with structural precariousness that nobody seems able to solve.