Press release 25/04/2019

SURVEY ON TOURIST ESTABLISHMENTS. APARTMENTS MARCH 2019

Overnight stays in tourist apartments in the Basque Country decreased by 10.3% in March 2019

In hotels, rural accommodation and tourist apartments as a whole, there was a 3.1% increase in overnight stays in March

Overnight stays registered in tourist apartments of the Basque Country in March 2019 stood at 20,613, down 10.3% on those registered in March 2018, according to EUSTAT data. When analysing these figures from March 2019, it should be taken into account that this year Easter fell in April, and last year it was in March.

Overnight stays in Gipuzkoa fell by 28% and in Álava they were down 8.8%, whilst in Bizkaia there was an increase of 5.9%.

There were 6,085 visitors registered in tourist apartments in the Basque Country in March 2019, which was a rise of 6.0%. The number of visitors was up 29.9% in Bizkaia, but there was a drop of 2.7% in Gipuzkoa and 28.7% in Álava.

This March the average length of stay was 3.39 days, below the average length of stay of 4.00 days registered in March 2018. In Álava there was an increase from 6.85 days last year to 8.76 days in March of this year; in Bizkaia it was down from 3.15 days to 2.57 days; and in Gipuzkoa, the average length of stay fell from 3.49 days in March 2018 to 2.59 days in March 2019.

Tourist balance for March 2019

In hotels, rural accommodation and apartments as a whole, there were 255,529 visitors in March 2019, which was an increase of 3.1% compared to the same month of the previous year. 47% of the total number of visitors to the Basque Country was concentrated in Bizkaia, and total visitor numbers rose by 6.0%. In Gipuzkoa, which accumulated 40.1% of visitors to the Basque Country, there was an increase of 3.4% and in Álava, with 12.9% of visitors, there was a fall of 6.6%.

Overnight stays in the total number of tourist establishments were down 1.5%. In Gipuzkoa and in Álava overnight stays decreased by 3.1% and 2.2%, respectively, but in Bizkaia they were up 0.2%.

For further information:

Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Basque Statistics Institute C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.es Tel: 945 01 75 62