Press Release 23/03/2018

SURVEY ON TOURIST ESTABLISHMENTS. APARTMENTS FEBRUARY 2018

Overnight stays in tourist apartments in the Basque Country increased by 24.5% in February 2018

In hotels, rural accommodation and tourist apartments as a whole, there was a 0.4% decrease in overnight stays in February

Overnight stays registered in tourist apartments of the Basque Country in February 2018 stood at 17,267, up 24.5% on those registered in February 2017, according to EUSTAT data.

There was a year-on-year upward trend in overnight stays in the three provinces: in Gipuzkoa they increased by 74.8%, in Álava they rose by 18.0% and in Bizkaia they were up by 2.8%.

On the other hand, there were 3,696 visitors registered in tourist apartments in the Basque Country in February 2018, which was a fall of 3.7%. By provinces, the number of visitors was up by 3.3% in Gipuzkoa, whereas there was a drop of 3.2% in Álava, and 8.3% in Bizkaia.

This February the average length of stay was 4.67 days, above the average length of stay of 3.61 days registered in February 2017. In Álava there was an increase from 8.07 days last year to 9.83 days in February of this year; in Bizkaia there was a rise from 2.98 days to 3.34 days; and finally in Gipuzkoa, the average length of stay rose from 2.53 days in February 2017 to 4.28 days in February 2018.

Tourist balance for February 2018

In hotels, rural accommodation and apartments as a whole, there were 179,392 visitors in February 2018, which was a decrease of 0.8% with respect to the same month of the previous year. 48.3% of the total number of visitors to the Basque Country was concentrated in Bizkaia, although total visitor numbers fell by 3.1%. In Gipuzkoa, which accumulated 37.9% of visitors to the Basque Country, there was an increase of 4.6% and in Álava, with 13.8% of visitors, there was a fall of 6.2%.

Overnight stays in the total number of tourist establishments were down by 0.4%, with an increase of 10.0% in Gipuzkoa, whereas in Álava and Bizkaia there were decreases of 8.8% and 4.7%, respectively.

Methodological note

Those establishments consisting of accommodation units that are offered as self-contained accommodation, and managed under the business operating unit principle, which are professionally and habitually used for providing temporary accommodation without constituting a change of residence for the person staying there.

Tourist apartments can be operated under the block mode (an entire building or complex consisting of flats, apartments, villas, chalets or similar, with communal installations and services, which a single business operating unit assigns to tourist traffic) or the combined mode (aggregate of two or more tourist accommodation units, located in the same or adjacent buildings and without constituting a block, which a single business operating unit assigns to tourist traffic). The accommodation unit is considered to be the part of a tourist apartment establishment that is self-contained and for the exclusive and private use of the person staying there.

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