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Press Release 22/03/2017

SURVEY ON TOURIST ESTABLISHMENTS, FEBRUARY 2017

Visitors to hotel establishments in the Basque Country increased by 5.4% in February 2017

The average daily rate (ADR) for hotels stood at 67.6 euros in February 2017, 5.8% up on the previous year

There were 171,119 visitors registered in the hotel establishments of the Basque Country in February 2017, 8,779 up on the same month of the previous year, which is an increase of 5.4%, according to Eustat data. The number of visitors was up 14.8% in Álava and 8.9% in Bizkaia, whereas there was a drop of 2.2% in Gipuzkoa.

Furthermore, overnight stays registered in hotel establishments of the Basque Country in February 2017 reached 309,272, which was an increase of 8.1% on those registered in February of the previous year; that is, there were 23,061 more overnight stays. There was a year-on-year upward trend overnight stays in Álava, which registered an increase of 15.7%, and of 14.0% in Bizkaia, whereas in Gipuzkoa they were down 2.7%.

Table 1.- Overnight stays, visitor numbers, average stay and bed occupancy rates in hotel establishments in the Basque Country. February 2017
Source: Eustat. Survey on tourist establishments

The number of visitors from within Spain rose by 4.8% in the Basque Country compared to February of the previous year, whilst the number of visitors from abroad increased by 6.8%. Álava registered a 21.2% increase in visitors from Spain, and a 11.2% decrease in foreign visitors. In Bizkaia, both the number of Spanish visitors (6.1%) and visitors from abroad (15.7%) increased. Gipuzkoa registered a 3.4% decrease in visitors from Spain, although the number of foreign visitors rose by 0.3%.

This February the average length of stay was 1.81 days, an improvement upon the 1.76 days average length of stay that was registered in February 2016. In Álava there was a slight increase from 1.87 days last year to 1.88 days in February this year; in Bizkaia it rose from 1.78 days to 1.86 days this February; and for its part, in Gipuzkoa the average length of stay decreased slightly from 1.71 days in February 2016 to 1.70 days this February.

There was an increase of four percentage points in the bed occupancy rate for the Basque Country overall, where it went from 37.0% in February 2016 to 41.0% in February this year. In Álava, there was a rise of eight percentage points, with bed occupancy rates reaching 39.7% this February. In Bizkaia, the bed occupancy rate rose by 6.6 percentage points, reaching 44.1%. Bed occupancy rates fell by 1.3 percentage points in Gipuzkoa, standing at 37.5% in February 2017.

The occupancy rate per room also registered an upward trend, with a 4.6 percentage point increase for the Basque Country overall, reaching 53.8%. In Álava it was up by 5.6 percentage points, standing at 50.2%; in Bizkaia it increased by 8.1 percentage points, reaching 59.7%. Meanwhile, in Gipuzkoa there was a drop of 0.5 percentage points, registering 47.6% occupancy per room.

The highest hotel bed occupancy rate in February this year was in Bilbao (49.3%), followed by Vitoria-Gasteiz (44.0%) and Donostia/San Sebastián (43.2%).

Taking into account the day of the week, at weekends there was a higher occupancy in the Basque Country as a whole in February 2017, with 54.1% of places occupied, whilst the registered occupancy stood at 35.8% on weekdays.

Finally, with regards to the profitability indicators of the sector, the average daily rate (ADR) of hotels in the Basque Country stood at 67.6 euros in February 2017, 5.8% up on the year before. The average rate stood at 67.7 euros in Álava, where it increased by 13.5%; 66.2 euros in Bizkaia, with an increase of 8.4%, and 69.7 euros in Gipuzkoa, where it was up 0.1%.

The revenue per available room (RevPAR) in the Basque Country overall, which is dependent on the occupancy rate of hotel establishments, stood at 36.4 euros in February 2017, a 15.7% increase on February 2016. One again there were provincial differences: in Álava, the RevPAR stood at 34.0 euros, 39.5 euros in Bizkaia, and 33.2 euros in Gipuzkoa.

In rural accommodation, visitor numbers decreased by 1.1% and overnight stays rose by 2.0% in February

There were 5,849 visitors to rural accommodation in the Basque Country in February 2017, 1.1% fewer than the same month of the previous year. By province, the number of visitors was up by 32.5% in Álava, in Bizkaia there was a drop of 3.0%, and in Gipuzkoa there was a decrease of 11.4%. The 394 visitors originating from abroad signified an increase of 7.4% with regards to those received a year ago and represented 6.7% of the total number of visitors. For its part, the number of visitors from within Spain fell by 1.7%.

Rural tourism establishments and country cottages in the Basque Country recorded a total of 12,538 overnight stays in February, with an increase of 2.0% with respect to the same month of the previous year. At provincial level, they were up 25.2% in Álava, whereas in Bizkaia they rose by 4.7% and in Gipuzkoa, by 6.2%.

The bed occupancy rate stood at 12.1% with a rise of 0.5 percentage points from the figures obtained in February 2016. Álava experienced an increase of 2.7 percentage points, with the bed occupancy rate standing at 12.1%. In Bizkaia the occupancy rate was 8.9%, which meant an increase of 0.4 percentage points in relation to February 2016, and Gipuzkoa saw a downturn of 0.5 percentage points to reach an occupancy rate this February of 14.1%.

Finally, the average length of stay per visitor increased this February with respect to February 2016, going from 2.08 days a year ago to 2.14 this last month.

Table 2.- Overnight stays, visitor numbers, average stay and occupancy rates in rural accommodation in the Basque Country. February 2017
Source: Eustat. Survey on tourist establishments