Activities related to the equestrian sector generated an economic movement of 7,392 million euros in 2019 in Spain – this is the latest data available – and a direct and indirect impact of 5,777 million, according to the study ‘II Impact of the Equestrian Sector in Spain’, prepared by the consulting firm Deloitte for the Royal Equestrian Federation in 2022. To all this, add the induced impact, which is the increase in household income generated by the economy linked to the three stages of the horse cycle (breeding, transformation and exploitation): 1,615 million euros. The list goes on. In 2019, this industry generated 149,863 jobs and 1,138 million euros in tax returns for the Treasury (575 million in Personal Income Tax, 150 million in Corporate Tax and 413 million in VAT). In total, the contribution to GDP was 0.59%.
The numbers are surprising coming from a sector that is one of the great unknowns of the Spanish agricultural scene. In the collective imagination, the horse is perceived as part of the rural image or a sport limited to very exquisite social environments, but not as a billion-dollar industry that, properly regulated, could help alleviate the effects of rural depopulation or excessive languor. of the supply of vocational training, which is an Achilles heel of our economy.
In that war is Alvaro Arrietafounder and president of Oxer Sport (leading company in equestrian events in Spain), in providing the equine economy with the structure it lacks to take off. In the spotlight are France and the United Kingdom, countries that are references in this area.
Spain, Arrieta explains to ABC, has ideal weather conditions and enough “horse culture” to be the leader of the equine industry in Europe. The data proves him right. In 2022 the horse census was slightly lower than in 2013, the year in which the last study by the Royal Federation was published, and despite this in those seven years the economic impact of the sector increased by about 2,000 million. That is to say, companies are generating more and more added value. In turn, the weight on the GDP, which is more revealing because it discounts inflation, went from 0.51% of the total in 2013 to 0.59% in 2022. To continue growing, Arrieta explains, there is a lack of structuring, a better training offer, less taxes and information, which is basic to establish a coherent strategy.
Of the 722,158 equids in Spain (2019 data), only 10% are federated, which means that most of the census is an information ‘black hole’. Something similar happens with racetracks, a good part of which do not belong to any association. Riding schools and equestrian tourism centers, the same. As Arrieta explains, Deloitte took a year and a half to prepare the report because collecting the data turned out to be an arduous task.
For some time now the Department of agriculture has led some initiatives, for example the creation in 2019 of the National Zootechnical Reference Center for the Equine Sector, whose mission is to improve the equine herd and promote the economic growth of the sector, but there is a way to go.
More training and less VAT
Among the pending duties, Arrieta places the trade balance, which for now is not generating foreign currency. Our country is a net importer of competition horses (with the exception of purebred Spanish horses), and according to Oxer this is due to the lack of aid and the existence of a 21% VAT for sales, which scares buyers away. countries where they enjoy a reduced tax.
Another obstacle is the lack of training offers. It is true that between 2013 and 2022 spending on education has gone from 15 million euros annually to 53, but the sector is asking for more. In Spain there are intermediate and higher level training cycles and own courses in private centers that are regulated by the Ministry of Education, including a University Degree in Equine Sciences and Horsemanship, but Arrieta explains that many specialized jobs that lack a specific course depend on horses, for example equestrian tourism. Improving the training offer, he assures, would be very beneficial in a country that is paying dearly for the over-qualification of its young people and would help combat rural abandonment, generating quality employment in agriculture.
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