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Press release of 22/06/2017

SURVEY ON TOURIST ESTABLISHMENTS. MAY 2017

Visitors to hotel establishments in the Basque Country rose by 2.9% in May 2017

The average daily rate (ADR) for hotels stood at 83.8 euros in May 2017, 4.5% up on the previous year

There were 268,060 visitors registered in the hotel establishments of the Basque Country in May 2017, 7,441 up on the same month of the previous year, which is an increase of 2.9%, according to Eustat data. The number of visitors was up 9.9% in Álava and 8.2% in Bizkaia, whereas there was a drop of 5.3% in Gipuzkoa.

Furthermore, overnight stays registered in hotel establishments of the Basque Country in May 2017 reached 500,056, which was an increase of 1.1% on those registered in May of the previous year; that is, there were 5,671 more overnight stays. There was also a positive year-on-year change in overnight stays in Álava, where they rose by 8.4% and in Bizkaia, where they were up 3.5%, but in Gipuzkoa they were down 3.7%.

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

The number of visitors from within Spain fell by 0.7% in the Basque Country compared to May of the previous year, and the number of visitors from abroad increased by 7.4%. In the case of Álava, entries of Spanish visitors saw a 5.9% upturn and a 18.2% increase in the case of foreign visitors. In Bizkaia, the number of Spanish visitors was up by 2.8%, whereas the number of visitors from abroad rose by 15.9%. In Gipuzkoa there was a decrease both in Spanish visitor numbers, of 8.4%, and in the number of foreign visitors, which fell by 2.4%.

This May the average length of stay was 1.87 days, below the average length of stay of 1.90 days registered in May 2016. In Álava there was a drop from 1.78 days last year to 1.76 days in May of this year; in Bizkaia it fell from 1.93 days to 1.85 days; and finally in Gipuzkoa, the average length of stay in May 2017 was 1.93 days compared to 1.90 days in May 2016.

There was a decrease of 0.1 percentage points in the bed occupancy rate for the Basque Country overall, where it went from 55.8% in May 2016 to 55.7% in May this year. In Álava there was a rise of 5.8 percentage points, where it went from 43.4% to 49.2% this May. Bizkaia saw an increase of 1.0 percentage points, going from a bed occupancy rate of 55.1% in May 2016 to a rate of 56.1% in May 2017. In Gipuzkoa the occupancy rate fell 4.3 percentage points, going from 62.0% to 57.7%.

The occupancy rate per room also registered an increase, with a 0.3 percentage point rise for the Basque Country overall, reaching 70.5%. In Álava it was up by 5.6 percentage points, standing at 62.3%, and in Bizkaia it increased by 1.2 percentage points, reaching 73.5%. Meanwhile, in Gipuzkoa there was a drop of 3.3 percentage points, registering 70.0% occupancy per room.

The highest hotel bed occupancy rate in May this year was in Donostia/San Sebastián (67.0%), followed by Bilbao (64.1%) and Rioja Alavesa (61.6%).

Taking into account the day of the week, at weekends there was a higher occupancy in the Basque Country as a whole in May 2017, with 65.6% of places occupied, whilst the registered occupancy stood at 52.2% 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 83.8 euros in May 2017, 4.5% up on the year before. The average rate stood at 68.3 euros in Álava, where it increased by 0.5%; 78.5 euros in Bizkaia, with an increase of 7.0%, and 96.0 euros in Gipuzkoa, where it went up by 3.8%.

The revenue per available room (RevPAR) in the Basque Country overall, which is dependent on the occupancy rate of hotel establishments, stood at 59.1 euros in May 2017, a 4.9% increase on May 2016. The RevPAR stood at 42.6 euros in Álava, 57.7 euros in Bizkaia, and 67.2 euros in Gipuzkoa.

In rural accommodation, visitor numbers increased by 4.3% and overnight stays rose by 2.7% in May 2017

There were 13,599 visitors to rural tourism establishments in the Basque Country in May, 4.3% more than the same month of the previous year. By province, the number of visitors was up by 16.0% in Álava, in Bizkaia there was a rise of 5.7%, and in Gipuzkoa there was a decrease of 0.9%. The 3,264 visitors originating from abroad signified a rise of 21.7% with regards to those received a year ago and represented 24.0% of the total number of visitors. For its part, the number of visitors from within Spain fell by 0.2%.

Rural tourism establishments and country cottages in the Basque Country recorded a total of 28,086 overnight stays in May, with an increase of 2.7% with respect to the same month of the previous year. At provincial level, in Álava they increased by 14.3% and in Gipuzkoa they rose by 3.9%, however in Bizkaia they fell by 7.3%.

The bed occupancy rate stood at 21.3% with a drop of 0.6 percentage points from the figures obtained in May 2016. Álava recorded an increase of 1.8 percentage points, with a bed occupancy rate of 20.4%. In Bizkaia, the occupancy rate stood at 18.1%, resulting in a decrease of 2.9 percentage points in relation to May 2016, whereas in Gipuzkoa rates fell by 0.1 percentage points, reaching an occupancy rate of 23.6% this May.

Finally, the average length of stay per visitor decreased this May with respect to May 2016, going from 2.10 days a year ago to 2.07 this last month.

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