The balance for 2003 in the hotel establishments of the A.C. of the Basque Country shows increases both in the number of visitors (5%) and the number of overnight stays (4%) in relation to the previous year. The positive nature of these two indicators is present throughout the three provinces of the A.C. of the Basque Country, albeit to varying degrees in each one, according to Eustat data.

In December 2003, the hotel establishments of the A.C. of the Basque Country registered 107,025 visitors. These figures show a 10% increase in relation to the same month of the previous year, some 10,000 more visitors. The number of visitors evolved positively in all three provinces, rising in Gipuzkoa (15%), Alava (10%) and Bizkaia (5%).

Visitors from other parts of the state grew in number by 7% in the A.C. of the Basque Country as a whole and there was an 18% rise in the number of foreign visitors. Figures for both groups were up in all three provinces during December.

Among visitors from the state, there was an increase in those coming from Madrid, Catalonia, the Community of Valencia and Galicia, among other places. As for foreigners, there was an increase in travellers from France, Italy, the United Kingdom and USA-Canada, although visitors from Germany and Portugal, among others, fell in number.

Overnight stays registered in December 2003 came to 193,613, meaning a 12% increase in relation to December of the previous year, some 20,500 more overnight stays. Inter-annual evolution of overnight stays was also positive in all three provinces.

The length of the average stay in the A.C. of the Basque Country as a whole went up from 1.78 days last year to 1.81 this month and the degree of occupancy by places and rooms underwent a rise of 6% and 2% respectively.

Annual balance 2003

In 2003, 1,585,221 visitors were registered, bettering by 5% the figure for 2002, the first year to see the one and a half million barrier for visitors to the hotel establishments of the A.C. of the Basque Country surpassed. In all three provinces the number of visitors increased: Bizkaia by 7%, Gipuzkoa 5% and Alava 0.5%.

The number of overnight stays in 2003 came to 2,962,252, meaning 115,000 more than in the previous year. Here too there was a positive evolution in the three provinces: Gipuzkoa (5%), Bizkaia (4%) and Alava (2%).

The average length of stay fell slightly from 1.88 days to 1.87 during 2003, due to the way this variable evolved in Bizkaia. The degree of occupancy by places fell by point three per cent in the A.C. of the Basque Country as a whole as a result of the expansion of the offer in the hotel trade in Bizkaia and Álava, despite the notable increase in the number of visitors and overnight stays.

Agrotourism: In December the number of visitors increased (39%) as did overnight stays (36%)

There were 7,073 visitors registered by the agrotourism establishments of the A.C. of the Basque Country in December 2003, 39% more than in the same month of the previous year, a rise that affected all three provinces.

Overnight stays in agrotourism establishments in the A.C. of the Basque Country came to 17,178 in December, 36% more than in the same month of the previous year, with positive inter-annual growth rates in Alava (69%), Gipuzkoa (40%) and Bizkaia (18%).

The average stay per visitor suffered a 0.2% setback in the A.C. of the Basque Country as a whole although the degree of occupancy by places improved by 24%, an improvement affecting all three provinces.

Annual balance for agrotourism 2003: an 8% rise in visitors and 10% in overnight stays.

84,391 visitors were registered by agrotourism establishments in the A.C. of the Basque Country during the course of 2003, meaning 8% more than the year before, while overnight stays came to 225,249, which is to say 10% more than in 2002.

The increase in both visitors and overnight stays was repeated, although to varying degrees, in each one of the three provinces.

The average stay per visitor went from 2.60 days in 2002 to 2.66 days in 2003, although the degree of occupancy in 2003 remained at practically the same level as that of 2002.