Press release 22/04/2020
(This press release has been revised due to an error in the values of the variation rates of the profitability indicators, ADR and RevPar, which appear in the first table of this note.)
Visitor numbers in hotel establishments in the Basque Country plummeted by 71.7% in March 2020
The number of hotel places fell by 45.1% as a consequence of the almost 15 days that, on average, hotels in the Basque Country have closed in March 2020
The COVID-19 crisis caused a 71.7% drop in the number of visitors to hotel establishments in the Basque Country in March 2020, according to Eustat data. In March 2020 there were 67,544 visitors, 171,278 fewer than in the same month of the previous year. By province, the impact is similar: down 73.3% in Álava, 72.3% in Bizkaia and 70.5% in Gipuzkoa.
In turn, overnight stays registered in hotel establishments of the Basque Country in March 2020 reached 150,221, which was a drop of 66.0% on those registered in March of the previous year, that is, there were 292,162 fewer overnight stays. There was a year-on-year negative trend in overnight stays in the three provinces: in Álava they decreased by 66.1%, in Bizkaia they fell by 66.3% and in Gipuzkoa they were down 65.8%.
The number of visitors from within Spain to the Basque Country registered a negative variation of 73.5% in March 2020 compared to March of the previous year. In turn, the number of visitors from abroad decreased by 68.0%. In the case of Álava, visitor numbers saw a downturn in both cases, of 75.4% for Spanish visitors and 64.3% in the case of foreign visitors. In Bizkaia the number of Spanish visitors was down 74.2% and the number of visitors from abroad fell by 68.3%. In Gipuzkoa the number of Spanish visitors decreased by 71.8% and those from abroad by 68.2%.
This March the average length of stay was 2.22 days, above the average length of stay of 1.85 days that was registered in March 2019. In Álava there was an increase from 1.91 days last year to 2.43 days in March of this year; in Bizkaia it was up from 1.86 days to 2.27 days; and finally in Gipuzkoa, the average length of stay rose from 1.82 days in March 2019 to 2.12 days in March 2020.
There was a downturn of 18.5 percentage points in the bed occupancy rate for the Basque Country overall, where it went from 48.4% in March 2019 to 29.9% in March this year. It should be noted that the occupancy rate, be it on the basis of beds or room, was only calculated for establishments that were open on each one of the days. Álava experienced a drop of 21.5 percentage points, down from 45.5% to 24.1%. Bizkaia registered a fall of 19.4 percentage points, dropping from an occupancy rate of 49.1% in March 2019 to a rate of 29.8% this March. In Gipuzkoa the occupancy rate decreased by 15.7 percentage points, falling from 48.4% in March 2019 to 32.7% this March.
The occupancy rate per room registered a 20.9 percentage point drop for the Basque Country overall, reaching a room occupancy rate of 39.5%. In Álava it was down 22.7 percentage points, standing at 34.3%, in Bizkaia it was dropped 22.6 percentage points, reaching 40.5%, and in Gipuzkoa there was a fall of 17.8 percentage points, registering 40.5% occupancy per room.
The highest hotel bed occupancy rate in March this year was in Donostia-San Sebastián (35.0%), followed by inland Gipukzoa (32.9%) and Gipuzkoa Costa (31.8%).
Taking into account the day of the week, at weekends there was a higher occupancy in the Basque Country as a whole in March 2020, with 34.8% of beds occupied, whilst the registered occupancy stood at 28.3% on weekdays.
EFFECTS OF THE COVID-19 CRISIS ON THE SUPPLY OF HOTEL ACCOMODATION IN MARCH 2020
Analysing the supply of hotel accommodation during March 2019 reveals in detail the effects of the COVID-19 crisis and, specifically, of Order SND/257/2020, of 19 March, declaring the suspension of the opening of tourist accommodation establishments to the public. The number of establishments that opened during March 2020 was down by 2.4% in Bizkaia, 2.9% in Gipuzkoa and 3.1% in the case of Álava. In the Basque Country as a whole this represented 532 open establishments and a fall of 2.7% in relation to the 547 hotels open in the same month of the previous year.
Among the hotels that have remained open, closures for differing lengths of time have been registered as the month progressed. The average of days closed in the month was almost 15 days, slightly more in the case of Gipuzkoa (15.6 days) than Bizkaia (14 days closed on average) or in Álava (13.8 days), which is almost exclusively due to the effect of the COVID-19 crisis, given that in the three provinces this average was not even one day in March 2019.
For these hotels, and as a consequence of the days closed on which there was no supply, the total number of places has registered a drop of 45.1%, going from 915,046 places in March 2019 to 502,539 places in March 2020. Gipuzkoa was the province that registered the largest downturn (-49.3%), followed by Bizkaia (-44.4%) and Álava (-35.9%).
In turn, 87 hotels have closed for the entire month of March, 35.9% more than n March 2019. Under normal circumstances, closure for an entire month is, in most cases, associated with a degree of seasonal demand for certain types of hotels. The variation in the number of hotels closed reached 50% more in Bizkaia, 33.3% in Gipuzkoa and 18.2% in Álava.
Finally, with regards to the profitability indicators of the sector, the average daily rate (ADR) of hotels in the Basque Country stood at 68.3 euros in March 2020, 14.8% up on the previous year. The average rate stood at 57.1 euros in Álava, down 4.1%; 70.6 euros in Bizkaia, with an increase of 18.7%, and 69.4 euros in Gipuzkoa, up 16.6%.
The revenue per available room (RevPAR) in the Basque Country overall, which is dependent on the occupancy rate of hotel establishments, stood at 27.0 euros in March 2020, 27.4% down on March 2019. The RevPAR stood at 19.6 euros in Álava, 28.6 euros in Bizkaia, and 28.1 euros in Gipuzkoa.
In rural accommodation, visitor numbers decreased by 73.8% and overnight stays fell by 70.1% in March 2020
There were 2,778 visitors to rural tourism establishments in the Basque Country in March, 73.8% down on the same month of the previous year. By province, overnight stays decreased by 76.0% in Álava, while in Bizkaia they were down 73.4% and in Gipuzkoa they fell by 73.4%. The 234 visitors originating from abroad signified a fall of 75.6% with regards to those received a year ago and represented 8.4% of the total number of visitors. For its part, the number of visitors from within Spain fell by 73.7%.
Rural tourism establishments and country cottages in the Basque Country recorded a total of 6,247 overnight stays in March 2020, which was a drop of 70.1% compared to the same month of the previous year. By province, in Álava they were down 74.4%, in Bizkaia they fell by 68.9% and in Gipuzkoa they decreased by 69.4%.
The bed occupancy rate stood at 10.8% with a fall of 6.6 percentage points from the figures obtained in March 2019. Álava saw a decrease of 5.8 percentage points, with a bed occupancy rate of 6.4%. In Bizkaia the occupancy rate was 10.9%, which meant a decrease of 4.3 percentage points in relation to March 2019, and Gipuzkoa saw a fall of 8.6 percentage points to reach an occupancy rate this March of 12.8%.
Lastly, the average length of stay per visitor was down from 1.97 days in March 2019 to 2.25 days in March 2020.
In the case of rural accommodation, the number of establishments open in March 2020 was down 4.6% on those open in March 2019 in the Basque Country as a whole. This was a drop of 1.1% in Álava, 3.3% in Gipuzkoa and, even higher, 9.9% in Bizkaia. A total of 329 rural accommodation establishments were open at some point in March 2020 compared to the 345 that were open in March 2019.
The average number of days closed for this type of establishment was 15.8 days, varying between the average15.2 days of closure registered in Gipuzkoa and the 16.5 days in Álava. As a consequence, the offer of hotel places has collapsed by 51.8% in the Basque Country and of the 120,502 places offered in March 2019 is now limited to 58,137 places. At a provincial level the impact is -56.6% in Bizkaia, -51.3% in Álava and -48.8% in Gipuzkoa.
Finally, a total of 99 rural accommodation establishments closed for the entire month, compared to 73 that did so in March 2019.
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