Press Release 23/04/2015
Visitors to hotel establishments in the Basque Country increased by 8.7% in March 2015
The number of overnight stays registered an increase of 10.1% compared to the same month of the previous year
There were 175,546 visitors registered in the hotel establishments of the Basque Country in March 2015, 14,120 up on the same month of the previous year, which is an increase of 8.7%, according to Eustat data. The number of visitors rose by 15.2% in Gipuzkoa, 11.7% in Álava, and 3.0% in Bizkaia.
Furthermore, overnight stays registered in hotel establishments of the Basque Country in March 2015 reached 318,072, which was an increase of 10.1% on those registered in March of the previous year; that is, there were 29,145 more overnight stays. There was also a positive variation in overnight stays in the three provinces: in Gipuzkoa they increased by 16.5%, in Álava they rose by 13.2% and in Bizkaia they were up by 4.2%.
The number of visitors from within Spain rose by 8.6% in the Basque Country compared to March of the previous year, whilst there was an increase in the proportion of foreign visitors of 9.1%. Álava registered a 8.9% increase in visitors from Spain, and a 24.5% increase in foreign visitors. In Bizkaia the number of Spanish visitors was up by 2.4%, whereas the number of visitors from abroad rose by 4.7%. In Gipuzkoa there was an increase in Spanish visitor numbers of 17.1%, and the number of foreign visitors rose by 10.9%.
The average length of stay in March was 1.81 days, up on the 1.79 days average stay registered in March 2014. In Álava there was an increase from 1.73 days last year to 1.75 days in March this year; in Bizkaia it rose from 1.77 days in March 2014 to 1.79 days this March; and for its part, the average length of stay in Gipuzkoa also increased from 1.84 days in March 2014 to 1.86 days this March.
There was a upturn of 3.5 percentage points in the bed occupancy rate for the Basque Country overall, where it went from 33.8% in March 2014 to 37.3% in March this year. Álava experienced a rise of 3.8 percentage points, increasing from 28.3% to 32.1%. Bizkaia saw an increase of 0.9 percentage points, going from a bed occupancy rate of 35.5% in March 2014 to a rate of 36.4% this March. In Gipuzkoa the occupancy rate increased by 6.5 percentage points, going from 34.2% in March 2014 to 40.7% in March 2015.
The occupancy rate per room was also positive, up by 4.1 percentage points for the Basque Country overall, where the occupancy rate per room stood at 48.8%. In Álava it was up by 4.6 percentage points, standing at 41.8%; in Bizkaia it increased by 2.0 percentage points, standing at 50.5%; whereas in Gipuzkoa it rose by 6.5 percentage points, standing at 49.7% occupancy per room.
The highest hotel bed occupancy rate in March this year was in Donostia/San Sebastián (45.6%), followed by Bilbao (43.5%) and Gipuzkoa Costa (38.9%).
Taking into account the day of the week, at weekends there was a higher occupancy in the Basque Country as a whole in March 2015, with 51.0% of places occupied, whilst the registered occupancy stood at 32.5% on weekdays.
In rural accommodation, the number of overnight stays rose by 6.3% in the month of March; on the other hand, the number of visitors fell by 10.7%
There were 6,856 visitors to rural tourism establishments in the Basque Country in March, 10.7% fewer than the same month of the previous year. By province, in Álava the number of visitors was down by 16.3%, in Bizkaia there was a drop of 17.8%, and in Gipuzkoa there was a decrease of 5.6%. In terms of the number of visitors from abroad, there was a decrease of 11.6% with regards to those received a year ago, and these accounted for 5.6% of the total number of visitors. For its part, the number of visitors from within Spain fell by 10.6%.
Rural tourism establishments and country cottages in the Basque Country recorded a total of 14,519 overnight stays in March, with an increase of 6.3% with respect to the same month of the previous year. At provincial level, they were down 1.6% in Álava, down by 29.3% in Bizkaia and rose by 16.1% in Gipuzkoa.
The bed occupancy rate stood at 12.6% with a rise of 0.6 percentage points from the figures obtained in March 2014. Álava recorded a rise of 0.3 percentage points, with a bed occupancy rate of 10.5%. In Bizkaia the occupancy rate was 8.8%, which meant a decrease of 1.7 percentage points in relation to March 2014, and Gipuzkoa saw a rise of 2.3 percentage points to reach an occupancy rate this March of 16%.
Finally, the average length of stay per visitor increased this March with respect to March 2014, going from 1.78 days a year ago to 2.12 this last month.
For further information:
Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Instituto Vasco de Estadística
C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz
Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.eus Tlf: 945 01 75 62
Further press releases on ETR - Survey on tourist establishments of the Basque Country
Databank on ETR - Survey on tourist establishments of the Basque Country