The gross domestic product or GDP refers to the total market value of all goods and services that are produced within a country per year. It is an important indicator of the economic strength of a country. Both Catalonia and Spain as a whole experienced a decrease in GDP between 2008 and 2013. However, in 2024 the GDP of Catalonia rose to its highest point at 316.7 billion euros, with the GDP of the whole of Spain amounting to 1.6 trillion euros. The development of GDP in Spain was thus closely linked to the average change of GDP in the Eurozone, with GDP of Spain having risen significantly since 2020. Catalonia's role in Spain's GDP The Catalan participation in the Spanish GDP was estimated at 20 percent in 2024. This figure maintained steadily over the last few years, with an average share of about 20 percent of the total GDP of the country. It is worth mentioning that Catalonia was Spain’s second most populated autonomous community at 8.1 million inhabitants, mostly located in the Barcelona area. The average GDP per capita in Catalonia was significantly higher than that of the rest of Spain at 34,441 euros in 2022. During the same period, Spain’s average GDP per capita was 28,300 euros. Tourism constitutes an essential industry for the Spanish economic system Travel and tourism have become one of the leading engines of growth for the Spanish economy, featuring an ongoing increase in the GDP contribution over the last years and reaching approximately 164.5 billion euros in 2022. The industry also plays a key role to boost the Spanish employment market, which has been experiencing a significant improvement since the 2007 financial crisis jeopardized and destroyed many jobs across the country.

Compared to Western Europe over the late 20th century, the GDP per capita across some of Western Europe's peripheral countries (Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and Spain) grew from approximately half of the rest of Western Europe's rate in 1950, to three quarters in 1998. By comparison, GDP per capita in the Eastern Bloc fell in the same period, from 42 to 29 percent in Central and Eastern Europe, and from 57 to 21 percent in the Soviet Union and its successor states.

The city of Paris in France had an estimated gross domestic product of 757.6 billion Euros in 2021, the most of any European city. Paris was followed by the spanish capital, Madrid, which had a GDP of 237.5 billion Euros, and the Irish capital, Dublin at 230 billion Euros. Milan, in the prosperous north of Italy, had a GDP of 228.4 billion Euros, 65 billion euros larger than the Italian capital Rome, and was the largest non-capital city in terms of GDP in Europe. The engine of Europe Among European countries, Germany had by far the largest economy, with a gross domestic product of over 4.18 trillion Euros. The United Kingdom or France have been Europe's second largest economy since the 1980s, depending on the year, with forecasts suggesting France will overtake the UK going into the 2020s. Germany however, has been the biggest European economy for some time, with five cities (Munich, Berlin, Hamburg, Stuttgart and Frankfurt) among the 15 largest European cities by GDP. Europe's largest cities In 2023, Moscow was the largest european city, with a population of nearly 12.7 million. Paris was the largest city in western Europe, with a population of over 11 million, while London was Europe's third-largest city at 9.6 million inhabitants.

Mallorca is a very popular travel destination among Germans: on top of the approximately *** million tourist arrivals from other Spanish regions, approximately **** million visits from the central European country were registered by the island in 2023. With a wide margin, residents of the United Kingdom were the second-largest international group to enjoy the sun on the Spanish destination. Mallorca is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which constitute one of Spain’s 17 autonomous communities and are home to a population of over *** million people. Summer: the favorite season for tourism in the Balearics The Mediterranean spot is an attractive sunny retreat for many Europeans in search of some summer relaxation. In 2022, the Balearic Islands welcomed more than ** percent of its annual international inbound air passenger traffic between June and September, registering around *** million arrivals each month. International holidaymakers are key drivers of the tourism sector in the region: foreign tourists stayed on average *** days enjoying the islands’ great weather in 2022, a less than ***** percent decrease from the previous year. Similarly, the per capita daily expenditure of international travelers in the Balearic Islands decreased to *** euros in 2022. Tourism is key both for the Islands and for the country Tourism has grown to become one of the most important sectors not only for the Spanish community but for the entire country. After increasing steadily over the last years, the contribution of tourism to Spain’s GDP stood at approximately *** billion euros in 2022, being forecasted to reach over *** billion in 2023. This sector also boosted the Spanish employment market by experiencing a significant improvement in the number of people employed apart from the pandemic years.