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Press Release 10/22/2015

SURVEY ON TOURIST ESTABLISHMENTS. SEPTEMBER 2015

Visitors to hotel establishments in the Basque Country increased by 9,8% in September 2015

Over the months of July, August and September, visitors to hotel establishments increased by 8.6%, and visitors to rural tourism establishments increased by 7.4%

There were 262,504 visitors registered in the hotel establishments of the Basque Country in September 2015, 23,475 up on the same month of the previous year, which is an increase of 9.8% according to Eustat data. The number of visitors rose by 13% in Bizkaia, 8.8% in Gipuzkoa and 2.7% in Álava.

Furthermore, overnight stays registered in hotel establishments of the Basque Country in September 2015 reached 518,952, which was an increase of 4.7% on those registered in September of the previous year, that is, there were 23,495 more overnight stays. There was a year-on-year upward trend in overnight stays in Bizkaia with a 3.9% increase and a 8.3% increase in Gipuzkoa. In Álava, however, the trend was downward, with a decrease of 2.4%.

The number of visitors from within Spain rose by 2.9% in the Basque Country compared to September of the previous year, whilst the number of visitors from abroad increased by 19.2%. Álava registered a 0.6% increase in visitors from Spain, and a 7.5% increase in foreign visitors. In Bizkaia the number of Spanish visitors was up by 5.6%, whereas the number of visitors from abroad rose by 22.8%. In Gipuzkoa there was an increase in Spanish visitor numbers of 0.5%, and the number of foreign visitors rose by 18.1%.

The average length of stay in September was 1.98 days compared with the average stay of 2.07 days registered in September 2014. In Álava there was a decrease from 1.86 days last year to 1.77 days in September this year; in Bizkaia the average stay for this September stood at 1.93 days, a decrease on the 2.10 days registered in September 2014; as for Gipuzkoa, the average stay has remained almost unchanged: 2.12 days in September last year compared with 2.11 days registered this September.

There was an increase of 2.1 percentage points in the bed occupancy rate for the Basque Country overall, where it went from 58.6% in September 2014 to 60.6% in September this year. Álava experienced a decrease of 1.2 percentage points, from 50.6% to 49.4%. Bizkaia saw an increase of 0.5 percentage points, going from a bed occupancy rate of 59.3% in September 2014 to a rate of 59.8% in September 2014. In Gipuzkoa the occupancy rate increased by 5.5 percentage points, going from 61.0% in September 2014 to 66.5% in September 2015.

The occupancy rate per room also registered an upward trend, with a 2.9 percentage point increase for the Basque Country overall, where the occupancy rate per room stood at 74.4%. In Álava it was down up by 2.5 percentage points, standing at 60.3%; in Bizkaia it increased by 2.4 percentage points to reach 76.3%, whereas in Gipuzkoa it rose by 5.8 percentage points, standing at 77.9% occupancy per room.

The highest hotel bed occupancy rate in September this year was in San Sebastián (74.2%), followed by the Gipuzkoa Coast (72.7%) and then Rioja Alavesa (68%).

Taking into account the day of the week, at weekends there was a higher occupancy in the Basque Country as a whole in September 2015, with 70.5% of places occupied, whilst the registered occupancy stood at 57% on weekdays.

The bed occupancy rate during the San Sebastián Zinemaldia Film Festival stood at 89.8% in the hotel establishments of the Gipuzkoa capital

Visitor numbers during the 2015 San Sebastián Zinemaldia Film Festival increased to 30,285 in the hotel establishments of Gipuzkoa between 18 and 26 September 2015 (9 nights). In this same period, the total number of overnight stays in Gipuzkoa was 62,333, with a bed occupancy rate of 66.2%. In San Sebastián there were 15,739 visitors and 34,905 overnight stays, with a room occupancy rate of 89.8% and a bed occupancy rate of 72.2%. Compared to 2014, when the festival was held between 19 and 27 September (9 nights), visitor numbers increased by 14% and overnight stays increased by 6.4%, and in San Sebastián, visitors were up by 10.5% and overnight stays rose by 5.0%.

The occupancy rate per room during the Vitoria-Gasteiz Jazz Festival stood at 69.5% in the hotel establishments of Vitoria-Gasteiz

Visitor numbers during the 2015 Vitoria-Gasteiz Jazz Festival increased to 7,568 in the hotel establishments of Álava. These were visits that lasted from 1 to 5 September 2015 (5 nights). During this same period, there were a total of 12,036 overnight stays in Álava, 20.5% down from 2014, when the festival took place from the 1 to the 6 September (6 nights). There was also a decrease in visitor numbers of 9.1% in the province overall compared to the 2014 festival period. The occupancy rate per room was 63.9% in 2015, and the bed occupancy rate was 53.4%. In Vitoria-Gasteiz there were 5,568 visitors and 8,881 overnight stays, with a bed occupancy rate of 56.4% a room occupancy rate of 69.5%. Compared to 2014, visitor numbers decreased by 4.1% and overnight stays by 17.2% in the capital.

Summer assessment: the three provinces experienced increases in visitor numbers and overnight stays

In the summer months of July, August and September visitor numbers to the Basque Country rose by 8.6% with regards to the same period of 2014, an increase of 69,480. Álava experienced the biggest drop in visitor numbers at 10.5%, closely followed by Bizkaia at 10%, whilst Gipuzkoa experienced an increase of 6.1%. It was the number of foreign visitors that increased the most in the summer of 2015, up 11.7%, whilst the number of Spanish visitors increased by 6.1% for the Basque Country as a whole. Álava was the province that experienced the largest increase in the number of foreign visitors – 18.4% to be specific – whilst Spanish visitors went up by 6.3%. In Bizkaia, the number of foreign visitors rose by 12.6%, whilst Spanish visitors increased by 7.9%. Both these figures increased in Gipuzkoa too, with an 8.8% increase in foreign visitors, which exceeds the 3.6% increase in Spanish visitors.

Overnight stays underwent a 7.4% upward trend for the Basque Country as a whole. The increase was 3.9% in Álava, 7.7% in Bizkaia and 8.2% in Gipuzkoa.

The average stay in 2015 during the summer months remained unchanged at 2.1 days for the Basque Country as a whole.

Both the bed occupancy rate, 68.5%, and the room occupancy rate, 78%, exceeded figures from the previous year: the bed occupancy rate increased by 4.3 percentage points, whilst the room occupancy rate increased by 5.3 percentage points.